Kohnen-Station is a German summer-only polar research station in the
Antarctic
The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole.
The Antar ...
, able to accommodate up to 28 people.
It is named after the geophysicist
Heinz Kohnen (1938–1997), who was for a long time the head of logistics at the
Alfred Wegener Institute
The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (German: ''Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung'') is located in Bremerhaven, Germany, and a member of the Helmholtz Association ...
.
The station opened on January 11, 2001, in
Dronning Maud Land. The station is located at 75°00'S, 00°04'E, and 2892 m above sea level. It is located 757 km southeast of
Neumayer Station III
Neumayer Station III, also known as Neumayer III after geophysicist Georg von Neumayer, is a German Antarctic research station of the Alfred-Wegener-Institut (AWI). It is located on the approximately thick Ekström Ice Shelf several kilometre ...
, which lies on the
Ekstrom Ice Shelf and provides logistics and administration for Kohnen-Station. Like the United Kingdom's
Halley V station, the base is built on steel legs allowing the station to be jacked up as the height of the snow surface increases.
The station contains a radio room, a mess room, a kitchen, bathrooms, two bedrooms, a snow melter, a store, a workshop, and a power plant (100 kW). It is supplied by a convoy of 6 towing vehicles, which carry up to 20 tons each, and 17 sledges. The base is resupplied twice each year, with up to 6 sledge trains at a time. This traverse takes 9–14 days.
;Sledges
About 17 sledges are kept at the station. They are mainly used for transport (pulled via a snowmobile) and logistics.
;Towing vehicles
About a convoy of 6 towing vehicles are stationed. They are mainly used for logistics.
;PistenBully
Around 3 PistenBully
snowcats are stationed at the base. They are mainly used for logistics, filling the snow melter, and clearing the snow.
Kohnen station is the logistic base for the ice coring project in Dronning Maud Land, the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (
EPICA). A core was also drilled at Kohnen station.
In 2019, researchers found interstellar iron in Antarctica in snow from the Kohnen Station which they relate to the
Local Interstellar Cloud
The Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC), also known as the Local Fluff, is an interstellar cloud roughly across, through which the Solar System is moving. This feature overlaps with a region around the Sun referred to as the solar neighborhood. It i ...
See also
*
List of Antarctic research stations
*
List of Antarctic field camps
Many research stations in Antarctica support satellite field camps which are, in general, seasonal camps. The type of field camp can vary – some are permanent structures used during the annual Antarctic summer, whereas others are little more tha ...
*
Airports in Antarctica
References
External links
Project EPICA
Germany and the Antarctic
Princess Martha Coast
Outposts of Queen Maud Land
2001 establishments in Antarctica
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