The Concordia Research Station is situated in the massive dessert in the world Antarctic Plateau in Antarctica. Among the research stations who operate round the year, this is one of them.
Together run by Italy & France this station was inaugurated in the year of 2005. It’s situated more than 500 kilometers away from the nearest human habitat on the plateau which happens to be Vostok, a Russian outpost.
This is a major isolated human outpost in the planet; because it is more than 1000 kilometers away from the nearest permanent or temporary stations in Antarctica.
How to get there: At the first point of Dumont d’Urville Station, heavy cargo reaches by travelling a distance of nearly 1,100 kilometers. Depending on the weather it usually takes from seven to twelve days. . To get a little more advantageous, lighter or personal cargo is quite preferable. They could use the Mario Zuchelli Station or Dumont d’Urvlle station (both are situated at the same distance).
It positioned on the top of the Dome C or Dome Circe also known as Dome Charlie. Over the Ice Sheet of Antarctica it’s a naturally appearing dome. During summer -25°C is the normal temperature whereas in winter it reduces to more than -80°C. Weather is also very dry with minimum humidity.
Though it began operation in 2005 with 13 people, but in the year of 1992, French first planned for a new station over the Dome C. Italy associated with them later & they together constructed a summer camp there.
Its stable atmosphere as well as very minimal light befoulment makes this area quite luring for astronomic research. The environment of this largest dessert is quite deadly, with no sign of animals or plants for approximately 20 kilometers away from Southern Ocean. Skua is seabird which can be seen from time to time hovering over the station. According to scientists instead of flying around it, birds have found the route to get over the continent.
There were two main purposes behind creation of this facility and making it operational. The most important objective was to provide all forms of support for EPICA – a project undertaken by European countries for coring of ice in Antarctica. The main purpose of EPICA is to study the atmosphere and climatic condition which is unique to the particular core of this area. Astronomical research was also another purpose for this station.
Until now two ice cores have been drilled here. These are more or less similar to projects being undertaken in Greenland. Scientists are hoping that they will uncover several interesting scientific facts from these ice cores. They are also finding out several interesting facts about climate change, global warming etc. something very similar to what happened during the glacial epoch that happened last time. The cores here are almost 740,000 years old and probably contain information about at least the last 8 glacial cycles.
