Mawson Station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

For other places, people, and things named Mawson see: Mawson

Research stations and territorial claims in Antarctica (2002).

Mawson Station from the air.

Mawson Station is a permanent base in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). It is named after the explorer, Douglas Mawson. Mawson is the oldest continuously inhabited Antarctic station below the Antarctic Circle.

[edit] Geography

Mawson Station is located at 67°36′S 62°53′E in Mac Robertson Land. The site was chosen in 1954 by Dr. Phillip Law, first director of the AAD as it has a large natural harbour (named Horseshoe Harbour) and permanent exposed rock for building. The station was built during 1955.

Mawson Station currently has 32 inhabitants. Mawson Station is the only station to use wind generators for over 70% of its power needs, saving over 600,000 litres of diesel fuel per year.

[edit] Climate

Mawson Station experiences a Polar climate:

**Climate Table**
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum temperature (°C)	2.6	-1.3	-7.2	-11.8	-13.6	-13.6	-15.0	-15.6	-14.4	-10.0	-2.7	2.1	-8.4
Mean daily minimum temperature (°C)	-2.6	-7.3	-13.2	-17.3	-19.3	-19.5	-20.8	-21.7	-20.6	-16.4	-8.9	-3.2	-14.3
Mean daily sunshine (hours)	8.3	7.7	5.3	3.8	1.6	0.0	0.6	3.0	5.1	7.5	8.7	8.9	5.0
Mean number of cloudy days	16.0	13.3	13.8	11.9	10.5	9.6	10.6	10.9	11.7	13.2	14.4	15.7	151.5
Source: Bureau of Meteorology