Polar station a world first

Bendigo Advertiser
Wednesday 31/10/2007 Page: 25

BELGIUM is building the first ever zero-emission polar station in the Antarctic, powered by solar panels and wind turbines and designed to have minimal impact on the climate change its scientists are studying. All waste from the Princess Elisabeth station, housing up to 20 researchers, will be recycled. fossil fuels will only be used for back-up systems. "Polar stations really have an impact on the environment because most of them run on fossil fuelss. There is a huge cost to buy the fuel, a huge cost to transport the fuel and a huge impact on the environment," said Maaike Vancauwenberghe, head of the research program.

On display in Brussels, the station will be transported later this year to a ridge in the Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, where temperatures drop to minus 50 degrees Celsius and winds reach up to 250 kmh. Belgian scientists first sailed out to the Antarctic on the ship Belgica more than a century ago, the world's first expedition there during the southern hemisphere winter. But while renowned for research, including a recent excursion to measure snow thickness in the Arctic, they have not had their own station since 1967, when their existing site became engulfed in snow and unsafe.

The station, named after the king's granddaughter, and with an interior of 700 square metres, should be operational for at least 25 years. With a stainless steel shell, a 40-centimetre layer of polystyrene charged with graphite and sandwiched between wood panels, the walls will be well insulated against the cold. Heat from computers will help keep the inside habitable.

Project manager Johan Berte said he had high hopes that the station would be used as a prototype by other nations. "I hope, and I really believe it will have a big influence on future stations in the Antarctic," he said. Britain and Germany also have plans to rebuild their stations during International Polar Year, which extends extends over two years from March, 2007, to March, 2009. The cost so far for building the station is 10 million euros ($A15.83 million). The Belgian government, which commissioned the project, will contribute 2 million euros ($A3.17 million) per year to the research project, starting in 2009.