Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica, and South Atlantic Islands Province
Department
Antártida Argentina
Region
South Orkney Islands (Spanish: Islas Orcadas del Sur)
Location
Laurie Island
Established
1 April 1903 (by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition)
Founded
22 February 1904; 120 years ago (1904-02-22)
Government
• Type
Directorate
• Body
Dirección Nacional del Antártico
Elevation
[1]
8 m (26 ft)
Population
(2017)[1]
• Summer
35
• Winter
17
Time zone
UTC-3 (ART)
UN/LOCODE
AQ ORC
Type
All year-round
Period
Annual
Status
Operational
Activities
List
Continental glaciology
Seismology
Sea-ice-zone glaciology
Meteorology
Base Orcadas is an Argentine scientific station in Antarctica, and the oldest of the stations in Antarctica still in operation. It is located on Laurie Island, one of the South Orkney Islands (Spanish: Islas Orcadas del Sur), at 4 meters (13 ft) above sea level and 170 meters (558 ft) from the coastline. Established by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition in 1903 and transferred to the Argentine government in 1904, the base has been permanently populated since, being one of six Argentine permanent bases in Argentina's claim to Antarctica, and the first permanently inhabited base in Antarctica.
The nearest Argentine port is Ushuaia, which is 1,502 km (811 nmi) away. The base has 11 buildings and four main topics of research: continental glaciology, seismology, sea-ice-zone glaciology (since 1985) and meteorological observations (since 1903).
Orcadas was the only station on the islands for 40 years until the British established a small summer base, Cape Geddes Station in Laurie Island in 1946, replaced by Signy Research Station in Signy Island in 1947. It also had the first radiotelegraph in the continent in 1927. The 11 buildings of the station house up to 65 people during the summer, and an average of 17 during winter.[1]
The scientific activities are carried out at the Laboratorio Antártico Mutidisciplinario en Base Orcadas (LABORC), the "Multidisciplinary Antarctic Laboratory at Base Orcadas".
^ abcAntarctic Station Catalogue (PDF) (catalogue). Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs. August 2017. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-473-40409-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
by presidential decree the base was put under the Service of Maritime Hydrography as Destacamento Naval Orcadas ("Orcadas naval Detachment"). Under the...
Britain and Argentina both maintain bases on the islands. The Argentine base, Orcadas, established in 1904, is sited on Laurie Island. The 11 buildings of...
Archived from the original on 28 October 2010. "Destacamento Naval Orcadas" [Orcadas Naval Base] (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Fundación Marambio. 1999. Archived...
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whaling station. It was the second research base on the South Orkney Islands (after the Argentine OrcadasBase in 1903). In 1955, a new hut, Tønsberg House...
office had been established in the South Orkney Islands in 1904 at the Orcadas meteorological station set up by William Speirs Bruce's Scottish National...
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