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The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,500 residents, [1] [3] though the population fluctuates seasonally; during the antarctic night, there are less than two hundred people. It serves as one of three year-round United States Antarctic science facilities.
The United States maintains the southernmost base, Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, and the largest base and research station in Antarctica, McMurdo Station. The second-southernmost base is the Chinese Kunlun Station at 80°25′2″S during the summer season, and the Russian Vostok Station at 78°27′50″S during the winter season.
The original base was established on 18 February 1948 by the President of the Republic of Chile, Gabriel González Videla, the first head of state in the world to visit Antarctica. The Capitán General Bernardo O ́Higgins Riquelme Bust was erected in 1948 opposite the base.
The base of the Hut Point Peninsula is home to McMurdo Station, Scott Base and Discovery Hut. Scott's Hut is further north on the west coast, at Cape Evans. North of this at Cape Royds is Shackleton's Hut. Finally, the Cape Bird Hut is just south of Cape Bird. [2] McMurdo Station, established in 1955, is the largest station in Antarctica.
The flightless midge Belgica antarctica, the largest purely terrestrial animal in Antarctica, reaches 6 mm (1 ⁄ 4 in) in size. [ 115 ] Antarctic krill , which congregates in large schools , is the keystone species of the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, being an important food organism for whales, seals, leopard seals , fur seals, squid ...
Thousands of miles from Washington, Beijing or Taiwan, the race between China and the West is heating up — in the coldest place on the planet.
Typical of inland Antarctica, Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station experiences an ice cap climate with BWk precipitation patterns. [33] The peak season of summer lasts from December to mid February. At the Amundsen–Scott the average annual precipitation is approximately 50 millimeters (2 inches), primarily falling as snow. [34]
Williams Field or Willy Field (ICAO: NZWD) is a United States Antarctic Program airfield in Antarctica.Williams Field consists of two snow runways located on approximately 8 meters (25 ft) of compacted snow, lying on top of 8–10 ft of ice, [3] floating over 550 meters (1,800 ft) of water. [4]