Touchdown at Mario Zucchelli station, Eastern Antarctica & an introduction to some Antarctica politics – Nov 10

Today (November 10th at 3am Vancouver time (UTC-7)) the team landed at Mario Zucchelli station, after a few days of struggling to leave Christchurch, New Zealand due to the weather at the landing site.

Mario Zucchelli station is an Italian research station located at Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. The team will stay at this station for one night and then plan to travel to Dumont D’Urville, a French research station, on Île des Pétrels, an archipelago of Pointe-Géologie in Adélie Land, Antarctica.

Unlike the Arctic, or North Pole, Antarctica is not physically connected to any country (you can check this out for yourself on the map!). Antarctica doesn’t belong to any single country and instead is governed by a group of countries. The Antarctic Treaty, of 1959, decided which parts of Antarctica were under the stewardship of different countries, and designated the continent as a place of peace and science (Antarctic Treaty, 2022). These countries are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the United States of America and the USSR.

During this research expedition, our scientists will travel to different parts of Antarctica and will travel over areas which are governed by different nations.

Here are some photos of the planes landing in Antarctica today!

Image of a number of scientists and staff wearing red at the station near an aeroplane. The sky is blue with some clouds, the weather looks quite calm. The people and plane are standing on snow covered ice.
Photo taken from a plane as it flies over a large ice sheet. Mountains can be seen in the background with the plane propellor in the front.
Image taken from the plane window, where a small soft toy is looking out the window. The plane appears to be near or on ground with mountains in the background.
Image of a number of scientists and staff wearing blue and red at the station near an aeroplane which is blue and red. The sky is blue with some clouds, the weather looks quite calm. The people and plane are standing on snow covered ice. There is also a truck which is collecting materials off of the aeroplane. Mountains covered in snow can be seen in the background.

Text source – Antarctica Treaty, https://www.ats.aq/index_e.html, accessed 11/10/2022

Photo source – Prof. Anaïs Orsi

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