Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva

Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Martin Aerodrome
IATA: TNM – ICAO: SCRM
Summary
Airport type airstrip
Serves Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva
Location King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
11/29 4,238 1,292 Gravel

Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva is the most important Antarctic base of Chile. It is located at Fildes Peninsula, an ice-free area, in front of Fildes Bay (Maxwell Bay), west of King George Island, South Shetland Islands. Situated alongside the Escudero Station and only 200 metres from the Russian Bellingshausen Station, its geographic coordinates are 62°12′0″S 58°57′51″W / 62.20000°S 58.96417°W / -62.20000; -58.96417, with an altitude of 10 metres above sea-level. The base is located in the Chilean commune of Antártica, which is the Antarctic territory claimed by Chile[1] (Antártica Chilena Province, Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region).

Also nearby are the bases of Great Wall (People's Rep. of China), General Artigas Station (Uruguay), King Sejong Station (Republic of Korea), Jubany (Argentina), Commandante Ferraz (Brazil), Henryk Arctowski (Poland) and Machu Picchu Base (Peru). Much further away is Captain Arturo Prat Base, also Chilean, 50 km to the west.

Description

It has a 1300 meters long airstrip (Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Martin Aerodrome, ICAO Code SCRM,[2] with 50 intercontinental and 150 intracontinental flights each season, serving as a means of transport to many bases around. It also includes the Villa Las Estrellas residential area that has an hospital, a school, a bank, a small supermarket, etc. The maximum population during summer is of 150 people, and the average during winter is of about 80 people.[3]

It began to operate in 1969 as Centro Meteorológico Eduardo Frei. When the installations were expanded, it was renamed as Base Teniente Rodolfo Marsh, with the meteorology center keeping its original name. During the 1990 decade, all of the installations came to be named Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva, with the airstrip retaining the name Teniente Rodolfo Marsh.[4]

Climate

Like all the scarce zones that are free of permanent ice at the north of Antarctica, close to sea level, the area belongs to the climatic category of tundra. The average temperature in July is -6.3°C; in January is 1.4°C; annual average is -2.4°C. Average precipitation: Maximum in March, 62.5 mm; Minimum in July 18.2 mm; annual average 405 mm.[5]

Climate data for Base Frei
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 13.0
(55.4)		 9.2
(48.6)		 8.3
(46.9)		 5.9
(42.6)		 4.6
(40.3)		 4.2
(39.6)		 5.0
(41)		 3.8
(38.8)		 4.4
(39.9)		 4.4
(39.9)		 6.0
(42.8)		 8.2
(46.8)		 13.0
(55.4)
Average high °C (°F) 2.7
(36.9)		 2.9
(37.2)		 2.2
(36)		 0.6
(33.1)		 −0.8
(30.6)		 −1.5
(29.3)		 −0.9
(30.4)		 −2.2
(28)		 −1.3
(29.7)		 −0.8
(30.6)		 0.0
(32)		 2.1
(35.8)		 0.3
(32.5)
Daily mean °C (°F) 1.5
(34.7)		 1.6
(34.9)		 0.4
(32.7)		 −1.7
(28.9)		 −3.8
(25.2)		 −5.5
(22.1)		 −6.5
(20.3)		 −6.5
(20.3)		 −4.5
(23.9)		 −2.6
(27.3)		 −1.0
(30.2)		 0.6
(33.1)		 −2.3
(27.9)
Average low °C (°F) 0.3
(32.5)		 0.6
(33.1)		 −1.2
(29.8)		 −4.8
(23.4)		 −8.2
(17.2)		 −9.4
(15.1)		 −13.2
(8.2)		 −11.3
(11.7)		 −8.0
(17.6)		 −5.6
(21.9)		 −2.8
(27)		 −0.3
(31.5)		 −5.3
(22.5)
Record low °C (°F) −5.1
(22.8)		 −5.8
(21.6)		 −9.9
(14.2)		 −16.8
(1.8)		 −23.6
(−10.5)		 −24.2
(−11.6)		 −28.5
(−19.3)		 −28.7
(−19.7)		 −23.0
(−9.4)		 −17.0
(1.4)		 −10.7
(12.7)		 −6.8
(19.8)		 −28.7
(−19.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 53.8
(2.118)		 52.3
(2.059)		 52.5
(2.067)		 46.6
(1.835)		 31.0
(1.22)		 29.2
(1.15)		 32.2
(1.268)		 34.5
(1.358)		 42.0
(1.654)		 47.7
(1.878)		 41.0
(1.614)		 30.1
(1.185)		 492.9
(19.406)
Average relative humidity (%) 91 89 89 89 88 90 89 88 89 90 89 81 89
Mean monthly sunshine hours 83.8 71.2 57.3 23.6 8.3 1.2 3.9 15.8 44.2 93.2 104.5 98.1 605.1
Source: Dirección Meteorológica de Chile (temperature data:1970-2004, all other 1990-2000) [6]

References

  1. ↑ Antarctica
  2. ↑ Great Circle Mapper. "SCRM - Airport". Gc.kls2.com. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  3. ↑ (Spanish) Expedicion Antartica
  4. ↑ Chilean "EDUARDO FREI" Antarctic Base
  5. ↑ Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva - permanent station of Chile, Antarctica - Sunrise, sunset, dawn and dusk times for the whole year - Gaisma
  6. ↑ Cerda, Jorge; Zamora, Monica (2007). "CLIMATOLOGÍA DE LA PENINSULA ANTARTICA Y DE LA BASE PRESIDENTE EDUARDO FREI MONTALVA" (PDF). Climatologica Antartica (in Spanish). Dirección Meteorológica de Chile. Retrieved May 10, 2013.

External links

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Coordinates: 62°12′0″S 58°57′51″W / 62.20000°S 58.96417°W / -62.20000; -58.96417

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