McMurdo Station

McMurdo Station
Antarctic base
McMurdo Station in 2014
Nickname(s):  Mactown, MCM
McMurdo Station Location of McMurdo Station in Antarctica
Coordinates: 77°50′47″S 166°40′06″E / 77.846323°S 166.668235°E / -77.846323; 166.668235
Country	United States
Location in Antarctica	Ross Island, Ross Dependency; claimed by New Zealand (In abeyance since 1961)
Governing Treaty	Antarctic Treaty System (1961- present )
Administered by	United States Antarctic Program of the National Science Foundation
Established	16 February 1956; 69 years ago (1956-02-16)
Named after	McMurdo Sound
Elevation [1]	10 m (30 ft)
Population  (2017)[1][2]
• Summer	1,000
• Winter	153
	Winter: ~April to ~September
Time zone	UTC+12 (NZST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+13 (NZDT)
APO AP	96599-9998
UN/LOCODE	AQ MCM
Type	All year-round
Period	Annual
Status	Operational
Activities	List Aeronomy Astrophysics Biology Geophysics Glacial geology Ocean and climate systems
Facilities[2]	List A harbor Landing strips Helicopter pad Repair facilities Dormitories Administrative buildings Firehouse Power plant Water distillation plant Wharf Stores Clubs Warehouses Above-ground water, sewer, telephone, and power lines Chapel of the Snows Interfaith Chapel Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Center More than 85 buildings
Website	www.nsf.gov
Night and Day is seasonal, see Polar Night

McMurdo Station is an American Antarctic research station on the southern tip of Ross Island. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,500 residents,^[1][3] though the population fluctuates seasonally; during the antarctic night, there are fewer than two hundred people. It serves as one of three year-round United States Antarctic science facilities. Personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station usually first pass through McMurdo, either by flight or by the McMurdo to South Pole Traverse; it is a hub for activities and science projects in Antarctica. McMurdo, Amundsen-Scott, and Palmer are the three non-seasonal United States stations on the continent, though by the Antarctic Treaty System the bases are not a legal claim (though the right is not forfeited); they are dedicated to scientific research. New Zealand's Scott Base is nearby on Hut Point Peninsula, as is Arrival Heights Laboratory. On the base is a heliport, and across the channel is a helicopter refueling station at Marble Point, but the main airfields in the 2020s are Phoenix Airfield and Williams Field which are to the south and built on ice. Winter Quarters Bay is the base seaport, though access can be limited by weather conditions when the sea ice forms. Weather can make it too hard to land aircraft, and an icebreaker may be needed to reach the port facility. However, the sea ice also makes it possible to make ice traverses and travel directly across the bay, and historically an Ice Runway was crafted. The base is powered by a mixture of generators and wind power, though it had a nuclear reactor in the 1960s.

The base was first established in the mid-1950s as part of an international program to study and explore Antarctica for peaceful purposes. Daylight is seasonal at McMurdo, corresponding to the south polar daytime, and the polar night, which is also winter, lasts from about April to September. As it warms, the sea ice melts, and the port is opened, but by about February, much of the activity drops with plunging temperatures and increasing darkness, and there are usually no flights in or out until July or August.

The base has many buildings and staff which support the local population and its many field stations and research projects. The base is the starting point for the South Pole Traverse snow and ice road, which must be cleared each year, as do the snow and ice runways. The base is quite distant from New Zealand, about the same distance as between New York and Los Angeles, or as between LA and Hawaii. Some of the projects and/or field stations McMurdo Station has supported include the Lower Erebus Hut, for the study of Mount Erebus (an active volcano to the north of the base), WAIS Divide Camp (an ice coring project), ANDRILL (ANtarctic DRILLing Project), ANSMET (meteorite collection), and the Long Duration Balloon site. Telecommunication sites include Ross Island Earth Station, Black Island Earth Station, and the NASA Ground Station.