Dome C

Dome C
Antarctic base
Nicknames:  Dome Circe, Dome Charlie and Dome Concordia
Dome C Location of Dome C Station in Antarctica
Coordinates: 75°05′59″S 123°19′56″E / 75.099780°S 123.332196°E / -75.099780; 123.332196
Location in Antarctica	Dome C Antarctic Plateau
Administered by	National Science Foundation
Established	1970s (1970s)
Elevation	3,233 m (10,607 ft)

Dome C, also known as Dome Circe, Dome Charlie or Dome Concordia, located at

In the 1970s, Dome C was the site of ice core drilling by field teams of several nations. It was called Dome Charlie (

From November 1977 to March 1978 a French party of 13 settled down in the existing camp left by the aircraft rescuers. They brought several tons of equipment—thanks to the VXE-6 airplanes—and achieved the planned ice-coring campaign down to 980 m bringing to surface, and later on in their labs for study, ice samples 45,000 to 50,000 years old.

During the Antarctic summer of 1979, the camp was re-occupied by Americans and French, under the auspices of the US Antarctic Research Program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Deep ice core drilling, meteorology and seismic studies were conducted. The camp, with a maximum summer population of 18, was operated and maintained by four employees of ITT Antarctic Services and one US Navy medical corpsman. When the camp was shut down for the season in about January, 1980, it was left mostly intact, with a radio-isotope powered remote weather station operational.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, France decided to build a new station on the Antarctic Plateau. The program was later joined by Italy. In 1996, a French-Italian team established a summer camp at Dome C. The two main objectives of the camp were the provision of logistical support for the

Dome C is one of the coldest places on Earth. Temperatures hardly rise above −25 °C (−13 °F) in summer and can fall below −80 °C (−112 °F) in winter. The annual average air temperature is −54.5 °C (−66.1 °F). Humidity is low and it is also very dry, with very little or no precipitation throughout the year.

Dome C does not experience the

Dome C is situated on top of the Antarctic Polar Plateau, the world's largest frozen desert. No animals or plants live at a distance of more than a few hundred meters from the Southern Ocean. However, south polar skuas have been spotted overflying the station, 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) away from their nearest food sources. It is believed that these seabirds have learned to cross the frozen white continent instead of circumnavigating it.

Astronomical observatory

Dome C is notable for its potential to be an extremely good

The Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific discuss the suitability of the site for astronomy in terms of the

References