Argentine Antarctica

In 1815, Guillermo Brown, an Irish-born Argentine Marine Commodore serving in the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, launched a campaign to harass the Spanish fleet in the Pacific Ocean. When rounding Cape Horn aboard the Hercules and Trinidad, strong winds pushed them to parallel 65 S. Some Argentine sources say that Brown had sighted Antarctic land on the expedition, saying that it is the reason why Argentine cartography often calls the northernmost part of the Antarctic Peninsula Tierra de la Trinidad.[11][12]

On 10 June 1829 the government of the province of Buenos Aires issued a decree creating the Political-Military Command of the Malvinas Islands (see Louis Vernet) including the islands adjacent to Cape Horn, which plays in Argentina and that included the Antarctic islands.

Otto Nordenskjöld (right) with José María Sobral (left) in Snow Hill Island, circa 1903.

The Argentine government decided to join the International Antarctic Expedition on,10 October 1900. This Argentine government received support, and in exchange, offered the services of the Argentine Navy to deliver scientific data and zoological collections. On the way through Buenos Aires, Lieutenant Jose Maria Sobral boarded the ship Antarctic on 21 December 1901. As no news of the expedition reached the Argentine government, it then fulfilled its commitment to support the expedition by renovating the corvette ARA Uruguay, which then set out on search on 8 October 1903, under the command of Lieutenant Julián Irizar, finding and rescuing members of the expedition who had been sheltering following the collapse of the Antarctic.

The expedition built a hut on Snow Hill Island in 1902. The Argentine Navy took possession of the hut in 1954 and named it Refugio Suecia. Currently, it is an Argentine historical monument and historical site as appointed by the Antarctic Treaty.[13][14] The 1902 expedition built another hut in Hope Bay, which is also an Antarctic monument under the control of Esperanza Station.[15][16]

DNA-IAA emblem

Omond House, Laurie Island, circa 1903.

The Orcadas Base in 1996

On 2 January 1904, Argentina acquired the weather station installed by Scotsman William Speirs Bruce, in Laurie Island in the South Orkneys, where there had been a crew of six men making scientific observations. In it was a meteorological observatory, where he also worked, a post office was installed. Civil (employee of the Argentine company official post and telegraph) Hugo Alberto Acuna accounted the hoisting for the first time in an official way the flag of Argentina on the Argentine Antarctic Sector, on 22 February 1904. Such an observatory became the Orcadas Base the oldest existing today across the Antarctic territory permanent human settlement.[17]

The Argentine corvette ARA Uruguay returned to Antarctica in 1905 (sailed from the port of Buenos Aires on 10 December 1904) to relieve staffing of the South Orkney and refer to Deception Island and Wiencke Island in search of Jean-Baptiste Charcot, whose French Antarctic Expedition (1903–1905) was believed to be lost. Thanks to the Argentine collaboration with his expedition, Charcot named an insular group as Argentine Islands. One of these islands was named as Galindez Island in honor of the captain of the Corvette, Ismael Galíndez, and another was named Uruguay Island, in homage to the Argentine Corvette.[18]

The Argentine Government decided to add two meteorological observatories, in the South Georgia Island and Wandel Island, who already had on the islands Laurie and Observatorio (near Isla de los Estados). Expeditions to Wandel Island failed in two attempts. In June 1905 the transport ARA Guardia Nacional under the command of the Lieutenant Alfredo P. Lamas carried forward the task of raising the Observatory in Grytviken in Cumberland Bay, renamed in Spanish Bahía Guardia Nacional.[19][20][21]

On 30 March 1927, the first radiotelegraph station in Antarctica was inaugurated in the South Orkney Islands. On 15 December 1927, the General Directorate of Post and Telegraph from Argentina informed the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union about their Antarctic claims and other islands of the South Atlantic.

In 1939, Argentina created temporarily (to attend a Norwegian invitation) the National Commission of the Antarctic by Decree number 35821, but by the Decree number 61852 of 30 April 1940 became a permanent body in order to intensify research in the area. Explorations, scientific tasks, were gathering ground and marking.

In October 1941, the Instituto Geográfico Militar published maps showing the extent of the future Argentine claim between the 25° W and 75 ° W. In January 1942 the Argentine Government, according to the theory of polar sectors, said their Antarctic rights between the Meridian 25° and 68°24' West (of Punta Dúngeness).

On 8 November 1942 Argentina laid claim to Antarctic land when an expedition under the command of the captain Alberto J. Oddera placed a cylinder containing a report and a flag on Deception Island. In January 1943 the British ship HMS Carnarvon Castle crew destroyed the evidence of the Argentine inauguration and planted the British flag. On 5 March of the same year the Argentine vessel ARA 1° de Mayo removed the British flag.

In 1946, the National Antarctic Commission set new limits for Argentine Antarctica between the Meridian 25° and 74° West (of the far east of the South Sandwich Islands). Chile and Argentina signed on 4 March 1948 a mutual agreement protecting and defending legal rights of the territorial Antarctic, mutually recognizing their claims.

On 7 April 1948, Decree No. 9905 settled the administrative unit of the Argentine Antarctic Sector of the maritime Governor of the National Territory of Tierra del Fuego. By her Decree No. 17040 of 9 June the "Antarctic and Malvinas Division" was created under authority of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[22]

Caterpillar tractor from the first Argentine expedition that reached the South Pole in 1965.

The first continental Argentine base in Antarctica, the Almirante Brown Naval detachment was opened in the year 1951. The following year opened the Esperanza Naval detachment (now Esperanza Station). While building this last base at hope Bay, occurred the first shooting war in Antarctica on 1 February 1952, when a team of coast Argentine, after a warning, fired over the heads of a burst of machine gun and forced to re-embark a civil team of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey unloading materials of the ship John Biscoe intending to restore the British base "D" burned down in 1948.[23][24]

On 17 January 1953, at Deception Island, the Refugio Teniente Lasala (a hut and a tent) was opened by the staff of the Argentine ship ARA Chiriguano, becoming a Sergeant and a corporal of the Argentina Navy. On 15 February, in the incident of Deception Island, 32 Royal Marines of the British frigate HMS Snipe armed with Sten submachine guns, rifles, and tear gas captured two Argentine sailors. The Argentine refuge and a nearby uninhabited Chilean hut were destroyed and Argentine sailors were delivered to a vessel of that country on 18 February to South Georgia.[25] A British detachment stayed three months on the island while the frigate patrolled the waters until April.

On 4 May 1955, the United Kingdom filed two lawsuits against Argentina and Chile respectively, the International Court of Justice in The Hague so this declared the invalidity of claims of the sovereignty of the two countries on the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic areas. On 15 July 1955, the Chilean Government rejected the jurisdiction of the Court in that case, and on 1 August, the Argentine Government did the same, by what the demands on 16 March 1956 they were archived.[26]

On 1 December 1959, the Antarctic Treaty was signed by Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the United States, entering into force on 23 June 1961.

In the 1960s the State of Argentina, with its fleet, pioneered ecological tourist cruises to Antarctica. At the same time, the Argentine State-owned Aerolíneas Argentinas inaugurated passenger flights between Ushuaia and Sydney making scale in Marambio Base. Between the mid-1960s and the first half of the 1970s, Argentina launched rockets from its Antarctic bases. These rockets were designed and built entirely in Argentina and possessed meteorological instrumentation and radiation sensors.

Operación 90 was the first Argentine ground expedition to the South Pole, conducted in 1965, by ten soldiers of the Argentine Army under then-Colonel Jorge Edgard Leal. The operation was named for the target 90 degree South latitude point (the geographic South Pole).[27]

Esperanza Base in 2012.

On 8 April 1970, the Governor of Tierra del Fuego issued the Decree N ° 149 creating 4 departments, among them the Argentine Antarctic Sector Department.

In 1977, the Esperanza Base was elected as the place of filing of Argentine families that traveled at the end of that year to overwinter at the base. The first director of the Argentine Antarctic Institute, general Hernán Pujato, was the forerunner of the installation of the Fortín Sargento Cabral when on 13 August 1954 he proposed the Argentine Government create a farmhouse out cape Spring to populate it with family groups. The idea had aimed to strengthen Argentine rights in that part of Antarctica. After finishing the construction of the houses, the Fortín Sargento Cabral was inaugurated on 17 February 1978. Having then 5 houses for families who wintered there that year.

The first human born in Antarctica was the Argentine Emilio Palma at Esperanza Station in 1978, within the territory claimed by Argentina. His baptism in the Catholic chapel on 7 January 1978 was the first on the continent.

On 18 December 2012, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom announced that the southern part of British Antarctic Territory (which included a portion of Argentine Antarctica) would be named Queen Elizabeth Land in honour of the Queen. Argentina "strongly rejected" Britain's right to rename the area.[28]

In 2013 the Argentine Defense Ministry announced that Petrel Base will become a permanent base by 2015. The base will have an airport and logistics for transfer of passengers and cargo.[29][30]

The climate of the region ranges from a subpolar climate in the north to a polar climate in the south.[31] The region has an extremely cold climate with mean temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) with frost and snowfall occurring throughout the year.[32] In general, there are two different climatic zones found within the region: a glacial climate in the interior and an oceanic one in the Antarctic Peninsula and adjacent islands.[32] The glacial climate found in the interior is dominated by continental ice sheets and glaciers while in the Antarctic Peninsula and its adjacent islands, the climate is characterized by very strong winds, particularly in winter.[32] In particular, the Antarctic Peninsula experiences strong cold winds and blizzards.[33] In the interior of the continent, the climate is colder and drier due to the higher latitude, altitude, and strong continental influences.[33] Mean annual temperatures range from between −10 to −20 °C (14 to −4 °F) in the Antarctic Peninsula to −30 to −50 °C (−22 to −58 °F) in the interior.[33] Temperatures are always low in the region; during the polar night in winter, temperatures drop down to −42 °C (−44 °F).[32] In the warmest month, mean temperatures are usually below 0 °C (32 °F).[32] Coastal areas have mean temperatures in the warmest month at around freezing.[33] Precipitation mainly falls as snow.[32] Due to the ice sheets and glaciers covering most of the region and the severity of the climate, the flora is sparse and limited only to coastal areas.[32]

• Belgrano II (77°52′S 34°37′W), laboratory and meteorological station; Argentine southernmost base (since 1979)
• Belgrano III (77°54′02″S 45°47′01″W) (closed)
• Esperanza (63°24′S 57°00′W), Hope Bay
  • Laboratory and meteorological station (since 1952)
  • Radio LRA36 Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, School #38 Presidente Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (since 1978)
  • Catholic Chapel, Post, Gym, Civil registration, port, tourist facilities
• Carlini (62°14′S 58°40′W), scientific station at King George Island
• Marambio Base Station (64°14′S 56°37′W), Seymour-Marambio Island
  • Laboratory, meteorological station
  • Airport, 1.2 km long, 30m wide landing track (since 1969) (Website)
• Orcadas Base (60°44′S 44°44′W), South Orkney Islands (since 1903)
• San Martín Base (68°08′S 67°06′W), laboratory and Meteorological measurements (since 1951)

• Teniente Camara Base (1957) 62°02′S 58°42′W, Livingston Island
• Base Deception (1948) 62°52′S 60°43′W, Deception Island
• Petrel Air Station (1967) 63°28′S 56°17′W Dundee Island
• Base Primavera (1977) 64°09′S 60°57′W, Alexander Island
• Base Melchior (1947) 64°20′S 62°59′W Anvers Island
• Almirante Brown Base (1951) 64°53′S 62°53′W, Paradise Bay
• Teniente Matienzo Base (1961) 64°58′S 60°04′W, Larsen Nunatak

Groussac hut on Petermann Island.

(64 in all)

• Base Alférez de Navío Sobral (1965) 81°05′S 40°00′W, Edith Ronne Land (now closed)
• Estación Científica Ellsworth (ex US) (1958) 77°45′S 41°00′W, Weddell Sea (now closed)
• Refuge Francisco de Gurruchaga 62°15′S 59°00′W, Nelson Island (open as hut)
• Base Ballvé 62°12′36″S 58°56′03″W, King George Island (open as hut)
• Belgrano I Base 77°47′S 38°15′W, Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf (closed)
• Belgrano III Base 77°54′02″S 45°47′01″W, Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf (closed)
• Camp Livingston 62°39′22″S 61°00′39″W, Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island
• Refugio Suecia 63°22′S 56°59′W, Snow Hill Island (built in February 1902 by the Swedish South Polar Expedition)
• Refuge Abrazo de Maipú 63°20′45″S 57°33′12″W, Trinity Peninsula (administered between Chile and Argentina)

Argentina's claim to the Antarctic Peninsula overlaps with the Antarctic claims of Chile, 53°W to 90°W, and the UK claims, 20°W to 80°W.

Currently, there are no attempts by Argentina or any other country to enforce territorial claims in Antarctica. See List of Antarctic territorial claims.

None of these claims have widespread international recognition.