Adélie Land (french: Terre Adélie, ) is a claimed territory on the continent of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

. It stretches from a portion of the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-smal ...

coastline all the way inland to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

has administered it as one of five districts of the

French Southern and Antarctic Lands The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (french: Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, TAAF) is an Overseas Territory (french: Territoire d'outre-mer or ) of France. It consists of: # Adélie Land (), the French claim on the continen ...

since 1955 and applied the Antarctic Treaty System rules since 1961. Article 4 deals with territorial claims, and although it does not renounce or diminish any preexisting claims to sovereignty, it also does not prejudice the position of Contracting Parties in their recognition or non-recognition of territorial sovereignty. France has had a permanent station in Adélie Land since April 9, 1950. The current Dumont d'Urville Station has a winter population around 25, but this goes up to about 78 during the Antarctic summer. A species of penguin, the Adélie penguin, is named after it.

Geography

Adélie Land lies between 136° E (near Pourquoi Pas Point at ) and 142° E (near Point Alden at ), with a shore length of about and with its inland part extending as a

sector of a circle A circular sector, also known as circle sector or disk sector (symbol: ⌔), is the portion of a disk (a closed region bounded by a circle) enclosed by two radii and an arc, where the smaller area is known as the ''minor sector'' and the larger ...

about toward the

. Adélie Land has borders with the

Australian Antarctic Territory The Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) is a part of East Antarctica claimed by Australia as an external territory. It is administered by the Australian Antarctic Division, an agency of the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the ...

both on the east and on the west, namely on Clarie Land (part of Wilkes Land) in the west, and

George V Land George V Land is a segment of Antarctica part of the land claimed as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, inland from the George V Coast. As with other segments of Antarctica, it is defined by two lines of longitude, 142°02' E and 153°4 ...

in the east. Its total land area, mostly covered with

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

s, is estimated to be .

History

The coast of Adélie Land was discovered in January 1840 by the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville (1790–1842) who named it after his wife, Adèle. This is the basis of the French claim to this Antarctic land.

Image Gallery

Atlas pittoresque pl 169.jpg, Discovery by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1840 Roquemaurel Roches Terre Adélie MHNT MIN 2013 0 1-5.jpg, Rocks brought back by the expedition in January 1840)

Research stations

Dumont d'Urville Station

Since January 12, 1956, a staffed French research base has been located year-round at , the Dumont d'Urville Station, with a winter population around 25, but this goes up to about 78 during the Antarctic summer.

Port Martin

The first French station, Port Martin, was built April 9, 1950, at , but it was destroyed by a fire during the night of January 22–23, 1952. Port Martin housed a winter population of 11 in 1950–51 and 17 in 1951–52.

Charcot Station

Charcot Station () was a French inland base located on the

Antarctic ice sheet The Antarctic ice sheet is one of the two polar ice caps of Earth. It covers about 98% of the Antarctic continent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth, with an average thickness of over 2 kilometers. It covers an area of almost a ...

at from the coast and from Dumont d'Urville Station, at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

of about . The station, built for the

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; french: Année géophysique internationale) was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific i ...

of 1957–58, paid homage to

Jean-Baptiste Charcot Jean-Baptiste-Étienne-Auguste Charcot (15 July 1867 – 16 September 1936), born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, was a French scientist, medical doctor and polar scientist. His father was the neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893). Life Jean-Bap ...

), and was occupied from January 1957 through 1960 housing alone three men. The base was composed of a main body of 24 square metres (the "barrack") which consisted of semicylindrical sections of sheet metal assembled end to end. This form was planned to best withstand the snow pressure accumulated on it. Horizontal galleries were connected to house scientific measurement devices, while a vertical air conduit opened a few metres above the snow level provided ventilation.

Cap Prud'Homme Camp

Cap Prud'Homme () is an Italian-French camp, opened in 1994, located on the coast of the

, in Adélie Land, about 5 km from Petrel Island, where the French Dumont d'Urville Station is. All the supplies and equipment for the Italian-French

Concordia Station Concordia Research Station, which opened in 2005, is a French–Italian research facility that was built above sea level at a location called Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau, Antarctica. It is located inland from the French research station ...

are transported by a combined convoy of up to 7

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larva, larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterfly, butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawfly ...

tractors from Cap Prud'Homme, with Kässbohrer trailblazers and a team of up to 9 people; each convoy transports an average of 150 tons of payload.

In popular culture

* The Dumont d'Urville research station was the filming location of the documentary '' March of the Penguins'' (2005).

References

External links

Discover France - French Colonies - TERRE ADÉLIE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelie Land France and the Antarctic French Southern and Antarctic Lands Regions of Antarctica Lands of Antarctica Territorial claims in Antarctica Geography of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands