Bellingshausen Station

Bellingshausen Station (Russian: станция Беллинсгаузен) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) Antarctic station at Collins Harbour, on King George Island of the South Shetland Islands. It was one of the first research stations founded by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition in 1968. It is also the location of Trinity Church, the only permanently staffed Eastern Orthodox church in Antarctica.

Location of King George Island in the South Shetland Islands.
Bellingshausen Station
Antarctic base
Bellingshausen base in winter
Bellingshausen Station
Location of Bellingshausen Station in Antarctica
Coordinates: 62°11′55″S 58°57′38″W
Country Russia
Location in AntarcticaCollins Harbour
King George Island
South Shetland Islands
Administered byRussian Antarctic Expedition
Established1968 (1968)
Named forFabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
Elevation
14 m (46 ft)
TypeAll year-round
PeriodAnnual
StatusOperational
WebsiteArctic and Antarctic Research Institute

The station is named for the 19th-century Russian explorer of the Antarctic Fabian von Bellingshausen.

The station is connected by unimproved roads to the nearby stations: Chilean Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chinese Great Wall Station, and Uruguayan Artigas Base.[1]

It is antipodal to a location in Russian Siberia.

In October 2018, it was the site of the first attempted murder in Antarctica. [2]

Climate

The Antarctic Peninsula and its nearby islands are considered to have the mildest living conditions in Antarctica. Bellingshausen Station's climate is strongly influenced by the surrounding ocean.[3] Under the Köppen system, it is one of the few locations in Antarctica classified as a tundra climate rather than an ice cap climate.[4] Variation in temperatures are small with the coldest month, July averaging −6.5 °C (20.3 °F) and 1.5 °C (34.7 °F) in the warmest month.[5] With only 591.3 hours of sunshine per year, the weather is often unsettled and cloudy throughout the year with precipitation in the form of snow, rain and drizzle occurring often.[3] On average, 729 mm of precipitation falls per year.[3]

Climate data for Bellingshausen Station (1968–2014)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 3.3
(37.9)		 3.3
(37.9)		 2.1
(35.8)		 0.2
(32.4)		 −1.5
(29.3)		 −3.1
(26.4)		 −3.8
(25.2)		 −3.6
(25.5)		 −2.0
(28.4)		 −0.9
(30.4)		 0.4
(32.7)		 2.0
(35.6)		 −0.3
(31.5)
Daily mean °C (°F) 1.5
(34.7)		 1.5
(34.7)		 0.4
(32.7)		 −1.7
(28.9)		 −3.6
(25.5)		 −5.6
(21.9)		 −6.5
(20.3)		 −6.2
(20.8)		 −4.4
(24.1)		 −2.6
(27.3)		 −1.1
(30.0)		 0.4
(32.7)		 −2.3
(27.9)
Average low °C (°F) 0.1
(32.2)		 0.1
(32.2)		 −1.3
(29.7)		 −3.8
(25.2)		 −6.0
(21.2)		 −8.3
(17.1)		 −9.7
(14.5)		 −9.3
(15.3)		 −7.1
(19.2)		 −4.7
(23.5)		 −2.7
(27.1)		 −1.0
(30.2)		 −4.5
(23.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 54.4
(2.14)		 66.4
(2.61)		 72.1
(2.84)		 65.6
(2.58)		 60.6
(2.39)		 53.4
(2.10)		 60.5
(2.38)		 62.1
(2.44)		 59.8
(2.35)		 54.6
(2.15)		 46.7
(1.84)		 46.0
(1.81)		 702.2
(27.65)
Average relative humidity (%) 87.8 88.8 88.3 88.0 88.2 87.6 88.5 88.6 89.6 88.8 88.4 88.3 88.4
Mean monthly sunshine hours 89.3 66.2 54.4 28.4 13.9 3.8 9.0 28.5 48.1 70.9 83.2 95.5 591.2
Source: Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute[5]
  • Trinity Church at Bellingshausen
  • Interior of Trinity Church
  • Bellingshausen at night
  • Bellingshausen in 2012

On January 21, 2014, American tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle set up an impromptu tattoo station in a scientist's guesthouse where he tattooed his signature tattoo—his autograph—on project assistant/tattoo historian Dr. Anna Felicity Friedman, making him the first person to tattoo on all seven continents.[6][7]

See also

References
  1. USAIT 2006
  2. "Antarctica scientist stabbed colleague for spoiling book endings". Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  3. "Station Bellingshausen". Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. Archived from the original on 16 April 2004. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  4. Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L. & McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen–Geiger climate classification" (PDF). Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11: 1633–1644. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007. ISSN 1027-5606.
  5. "Bellingshausen Station (89050)". Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. 4 May 2004. Archived from the original on 15 May 2004. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  6. Friedman, Anna Felicity (10 February 2014). "Lyle Tuttle Antarctica 2014 Press Release". tattoohistorian.com. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  7. Friedman, Anna Felicity (23 January 2014). "A History-Assisting Historian? Helping Lyle Tuttle Tattoo on 7 Continents!". tattoohistorian.com. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
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