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Little America was a series of
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 ...
exploration bases from 1929 to 1958, located on the
Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between high ...
, south of the
Bay of Whales The Bay of Whales was a natural ice harbour, or iceport, indenting the front of the Ross Ice Shelf just north of Roosevelt Island, Antarctica, at the southernmost point of the world's ocean. While the Ross Sea stretches considerably further s ...
. They were built on ice that is moving very slowly, the relative location on the ice sheet, has moved and eventually breaks off into an iceberg. The geographic location has new ice that has shifted to this location, and is technically over the open water. The coordinates are approximate.


Little America I

The first base in the series was established in January 1929 by Richard Byrd, and was abandoned in 1930. This was where the film ''
With Byrd at the South Pole ''With Byrd at the South Pole'' (1930) is a sound part-talkie documentary film about Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd and his 1st quest to the South Pole beginning at the Little America-Exploration Base. In addition to sequences with audible dialogu ...
'' (1930), about Byrd's trip to the South Pole, was filmed.


Little America II

Little America II was established in 1934, some above the site of the original base, with some of the original base accessed via tunnel. This base was briefly set adrift in 1934, but the iceberg fused to the main glacier. During the 1934–1935 expedition, many souvenir letters were sent from Little America, using a commemorative
postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...
issued by the U.S. government. The souvenir cancellation operations were conducted under extremely difficult conditions. Little America established the first successful radio broadcasting from Antarctica, making regular broadcasts that could be picked up by household radio sets in the United States, more than away around the Earth's curvature. In a later expedition to Antarctica, Byrd's expedition spotted Little America's towers still standing, including the Jacobs Wind plant installed in 1933.


Little America III

Little America III was established for the 1940–1941 season, some to the north. In 1940 a huge exploration vehicle, the
Antarctic Snow Cruiser The Antarctic Snow Cruiser was a vehicle designed under the direction of Thomas Poulter, intended to facilitate transport in Antarctica during the United States Antarctic Service Expedition (1939–41). The Snow Cruiser was also known as "The ...
, was brought to Little America III. Unfortunately, the vehicle was found to have a number of design and technical weaknesses and was little used. Abandoned, it became buried in the snow. It was last rediscovered in 1958, but has subsequently been lost once again, either under the snow, or under the waters of the Southern Ocean. The site of Little America III was carried to sea in 1963.


Little America IV

Little America IV was established in 1946–1947 as the primary camp for
Operation Highjump Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America (exploration b ...
. On 2 and 5 December 1946, 166 Seabees sailed from Port Hueneme on the USS ''Yancey'' and USS ''Merrick'' assigned to
Operation Highjump Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America (exploration b ...
.


Little America V

Little America V was established on January 3, 1956, at
Kainan Bay Kainan Bay is an iceport which indents the front of the Ross Ice Shelf about northeast of the northwestern end of Roosevelt Island, Antarctica. It was discovered in January 1902 by the British National Antarctic Expedition under Robert Falcon S ...
, some east of Little America IV, as part of
Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze is the code name for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There was an init ...
. Little America V served as the American base in the South Polar program in the
International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; ), also referred to as the third International Polar Year, 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 w ...
, from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. Little America V was constructed by United States Navy
Seabee United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...
s in the three-month window before the Antarctic winter makes construction nearly impossible. All of Little America V was constructed below the snow line in the ice, with individual living quarters, generator room, cafeteria, and with ramps leading out at one end for tracked vehicles. This type of construction meant that none of those staying in Little America V had to go outdoors in the harsh winter when going from one section to another of the Antarctic town. The site of Little America V went to sea on
Iceberg B-9 Iceberg B-9 was an iceberg that Ice calving, calved from Antarctica in 1987. It measured long and wide; it had a total area of , and is one of the List of recorded icebergs by area, longest icebergs ever recorded. This calving took place immedi ...
in 1987. Little America V was one of seven bases that the United States built for the IGY, which also included McMurdo, Hallett, Wilkes, Admundsen-Scott (South Pole Station), Ellsworth, and
Byrd Byrd commonly refers to: * William Byrd (c. 1540 – 1623), an English composer of the Renaissance * Richard E. Byrd (1888–1957), an American naval officer and explorer Byrd or Byrds may also refer to: Other people *Byrd (surname), including ...
.


See also

*
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 ...
* Brockton Station *
Byrd Station The Byrd Station is a former research station established by the United States during the International Geophysical Year by U.S. Navy Seabees during Operation Deep Freeze II in West Antarctica. It was a year-round base until 1972, and then se ...
*
Dean Cullom Smith Dean Cullen Smith (September 27, 1899 – March 4, 1987) was a pioneer American mail pilot, test pilot, flying instructor, Antarctic pilot, and airline pilot. At 17 years of age, he became the youngest flight instructor in U.S. Army history. He ...
*
Ellsworth Station Ellsworth Scientific Station (, or simply ''Estación Ellsworth'' or ''Base Ellsworth'') was a permanent, all year-round originally American, then Argentine Antarctic scientific research station named after American polar explorer Lincoln Ellswo ...
*
Framheim Framheim was the name of explorer Roald Amundsen's base at the Bay of Whales on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica during his successful quest for the South Pole. It was used between January 1911 and February 1912. Cabin and tents The hut was co ...
*
Hallett Station Cape Hallett is a snow-free area (Antarctic oasis) on the northern tip of the Hallett Peninsula on the Ross Sea coast of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Cape Adare lies to the north. History In 1956, during Operation Deep Freeze II, was dama ...
*
List of Antarctic expeditions This list of Antarctica expeditions is a chronological list of expeditions involving Antarctica. Although the existence of a southern continent had been hypothesized as early as the writings of Ptolemy in the 1st century AD, the South Pole was ...
*
McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is an American Antarctic research station on the southern tip of Ross Island. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is ...
*
Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze is the code name for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There was an init ...
*
Palmer Station Palmer Station is a United States research station in Antarctica located on Anvers island (aka Antwerp Island), the only U.S. station on the continent located north of the Antarctic Circle. The first Palmer was built in 1965, but the current sit ...
*
Plateau Station Plateau Station is an inactive American research and South Pole—Queen Maud Land Traverse support base on the central Antarctic Plateau. Construction on the site started on December 13, 1965, and the first traverse team (named SPQML II) ar ...
*
Research stations in Antarctica Multiple governments have set up permanent research stations in Antarctica and these bases are widely distributed. Unlike the drifting ice stations set up in the Arctic, the current research stations of the Antarctic are constructed either on ...
*
Siple Station Siple Station ( )was a research station in Antarctica (), established in 1973 by Stanford's STAR Lab, to perform experiments that actively probed the magnetosphere using very low frequency (VLF) waves. Its location was selected to be near the Ear ...
*
South Pole Station South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...


References


External links


Paper by CE Palmer, RNZAF on ''Winds at Little America'', 1929
{{Polar exploration Outposts of Antarctica United States Antarctic Program Outposts of the Ross Dependency 1929 establishments in Antarctica 1987 disestablishments in Antarctica