Vostok Station

Lake Vostok composite image (NASA)

Vostok Station (Russian: Станция Восток) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) Antarctic research station. It is at the southern Pole of Cold, with the lowest reliably measured temperature on Earth of −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). Research includes ice core drilling and magnetometry. Vostok (russian for "East") is named after the ship of Fabian von Bellingshausen, an Antarctic pioneer.

Description

Ice cores drilled at Vostok, with a portion of the station behind

Vostok Research Station is located at 78°27′51.92″S 106°50′14.38″E, about 1,300 km from the Geographic South Pole, at the center of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and within the Australian Antarctic Territory. As a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty System, Australia does not exercise sovereignty over the territory.

Vostok is located near the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility and the South Geomagnetic Pole, making it one of the optimal places to observe changes in the Earth's magnetic sphere. Other studies include aerometeorology, actinometry, geophysics, medicine and climatology.

The station is at 3,488 meters above sea level and is the most isolated established research station on the Antarctic continent. The station typically contains 25 scientists and engineers in the summer. In winter, their number drops to 13.

History

Panoramic photo of Vostok Station showing the layout of the camp. The striped building on the left is the power station while the striped building on the right is where researchers sleep and take meals. The building in the background with the red- and white-striped ball on top is the meteorology building. Caves were dug into the ice sheet for storage, keeping cores at an ideal -55 degrees Celsius year round. (Credit: Todd Sowers LDEO, Columbia University, Palisades, New York.)

Vostok station was established on 16 December 1957 (during the International Geophysical Year) by the 2nd Soviet Antarctic Expedition and has operated year-round for more than 37 years. The station was temporarily closed in January 1994. This station is now cooperatively operated by Russian, U.S., and French scientists.

In 1996, Russian and British scientists from the station discovered Lake Vostok, the largest known subglacial lake in the world, underneath Vostok Station. Lake Vostok lies some 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) below the surface of the central Antarctic ice sheet and covers an area of 14,000 km² (5,400 sq mi).

Climate

Climate data for Vostok Station
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Source: Vostok temperature data

Vostok Station
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     0.1     −29 −36     0     −39 −47     0.7     −53 −64     0.5     −60 −70     0.4     −59 −71     0.5     −59 −71     0.6     −57 −74     0.7     −61 −75     0.3     −58 −72     0.2     −54 −61     0.1     −39 −45     0     −28 −35 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm Source: British Antarctic Survey and Cool Antarctica
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     0     −20 −32     0     −39 −53     0     −63 −83     0     −77 −95     0     −75 −95     0     −75 −95     0     −70 −101     0     −77 −104     0     −72 −97     0     −64 −78     0     −38 −50     0     −18 −31 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches

Vostok is the Southern Pole of Cold. During the long winter, temperatures average about −65 °C (−85 °F); in the brief summer, about −30 °C (−25 °F).

The lowest reliably measured temperature on Earth of −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) was in Vostok on 21 July 1983 (See List of weather records) Lower temperatures occurred higher up towards the summit of the ice sheet as temperature decreases with height.

The coldest recent day at the station occurred 8 August 2005, when the high temperature reached just −78 °C (−108 °F) and the low fell to −85.4 °C (−121.7 °F). The warmest recorded temperature at Vostok is −12.2 °C (10.4 °F), which occurred on 11 January 2002. During July 1987 the temperature never rose above −72.2 °C (−98 °F). The minimum monthly mean surface temperature occurred in August 1987 with -75.4 °C.

Though unconfirmed, it has been reported that Vostok reached the temperature of −91 °C (−132 °F) during the winter of 1997. In 2008 the lowest temperature recorded was -82 °C (−115.6°F) on 26 July.

In addition to the extremely cold temperatures, other factors make Vostok one of the most difficult places on Earth for human habitation:

• An almost complete lack of moisture in the air.
• An average windspeed of 5 m/s (18 km/h), sometimes rising to as high as 27 m/s (97 km/h).
• An acute lack of oxygen because of its high altitude at 3,488 meters (11,444 ft). Accounting for the fact that oxygen density gets lower as one approaches the poles , it is estimated that the oxygen density at Vostok is equivalent to that on a mountain more than 5,000 meters (16,400 ft) tall at more temperate latitudes.
• A higher ionization of the air.
• A partial pressure of gases that is different from that which most humans are used to.
• A lack of carbon dioxide in the air, which leads to irregularities in a person's breathing mechanism.
• A polar night that lasts approximately 130 days, from mid April to late August.

Acclimatization to such conditions can take from a week to two months and is accompanied by headaches, eye twitches, ear pains, nose bleeds, perceived suffocation, sudden rises in blood pressure, loss of sleep, reduced appetite, vomiting, joint and muscle pain, and weight loss of 3-5 kg (7-11 lb) (sometimes as high as 12 kg (26 lb)).

Ice core drilling

420,000 years of ice core data from Vostok, Antarctica research station. Current period is at left. From bottom to top: Insolation, solar variation at 65°N due to Milankovitch cycles (connected to ¹⁸O). ¹⁸O isotope of oxygen. Levels of methane (CH4). Relative temperature. Levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂).

In the 1970s the Soviet Union drilled a set of cores 500–952 m deep. These have been used to study the oxygen isotope composition of the ice, which showed that ice of the last glacial period was present below about 400 m depth, Then three more holes were drilled: in 1984, Hole 3G reached a final depth of 2202 m; in 1990, Hole 4G reached a final depth of 2546 m; and in 1993 Hole 5G reached a depth of 2755 m; after a brief closure, drilling continued during the winter of 1995. In 1996 it was stopped at depth 3623 m, by the request of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research that expressed worries about possible contamination of Lake Vostok. This ice core, drilled collaboratively with the French, produced a record of past environmental conditions stretching back 420,000 years and covering four previous glacial periods. For a long time it was the only core to cover several glacial cycles; but in 2004 it was exceeded by the EPICA core, which whilst shallower, covers a longer time span. In 2003 drilling was permitted to continue, but was halted at the estimated distance to the lake of only 130 m.

Although the Vostok core reached a depth of 3623 m the usable climatic information does not extend down this far. The very bottom of the core is ice refrozen from the waters of Lake Vostok and contains no climate information. The usual data sources give proxy information down to a depth of 3310 m or 414,000 years. Below this there is evidence of ice deformation. It has been suggested that the Vostok record may be extended down to 3345 m or 436,000 years, to include more of the interesting MIS11 period, by inverting a section of the record. This then produces a record in agreement with the newer, longer EPICA record, although it provides no new information.

See also

• List of research stations in Antarctica
• Lake Vostok
• Soviet Antarctic Expedition
• Vostok traverse

External links

• Russian Antarctic Expedition, Vostok page
• Vostok average temperature data
• Vostok current met data
• Antarctic Connection article on Vostok Station