McMurdo Station
From Open Encyclopedia
McMurdo Station, located at 77°51′S 166°40′E, sits on the southern tip of Ross Island in Antarctica, on the shore of McMurdo Sound, 2,200 miles (3,500 km) due south of New Zealand. It serves as the logistics hub for half the continent, and is currently operated by Raytheon Polar Services (a subsidiary of Raytheon). All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo. The station is located within New Zealand's Ross Dependency Antarctic claim.
The station was established in 1956, when it was called Naval Air Facility McMurdo, on the original site for British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and is now Antarctica's largest community. Scott's Hut is still standing and lies at the outer part of McMurdo, adjacent to the harbour at Hut Point. Features include a harbour, 3 airfields (2 seasonal), a heliport and over 100 buildings. The primary focus of the work done here is science, but the summer residents (approximately 1,000 in the summer, shrinks to fewer than 200 in the winter) process the cargo brought in to support the field camps.
McMurdo Station is about 5 km away from Scott Base, owned by New Zealand.
Image:View of Mcmurdo.jpg Facilities at the station include:
- National Science Foundation Headquarters
- Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Center (CSEC)
- Observation Hill
- Scott's Hut
- Williams Field airport
- Memorial plaque to Three airmen killed in 1946 while surveying the territory.
Recently there has been a lot of criticism leveled at the base regarding its disposal of untreated refuse, its treatment of non-United States nationals, and its construction projects: in particular the McMurdo-South Pole highway. Despite this, McMurdo (nicknamed "Mac-Town" by its residents) continues to operate as the hub for American activities on the Antarctic continent.
