Adélie Land#Robert Guillard Station (1994–present)

Adélie Land lies between 136° E (near Pourquoi Pas Point at {{coord|66|12|S|136|11|E|}}) and 142° E (near Point Alden at {{coord|66|48|S|142|02|E|}}), with a shore length of about {{convert|350|km}} and with its inland part extending as a sector of a circle about {{convert|2600|km}} toward the South Pole. Adélie Land has borders with the Australian Antarctic Territory both on the east and on the west, namely on Clarie Land (part of Wilkes Land) in the west, and George V Land in the east. Additionally, it is the only territory claimed within French Southern and Antarctic Lands that is not an island.{{Citation |title=French Southern and Antarctic Lands |date=17 March 2023 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/french-southern-and-antarctic-lands/ |work=The World Factbook |access-date=28 March 2023 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}

Its total land area, mostly covered with glaciers, is estimated to be {{convert|432000|sqkm}}.{{Cite web |title=La station Dumont d'Urville |url=https://institut-polaire.fr/fr/antarctique/la-station-dumont-durville/ |access-date=26 March 2023 |website=Institut Polaire |language=fr-FR}}

The coast of Adélie Land is known for its katabatic winds which push snow and sea ice away from the coast. In a 1915 Science Magazine volume, it was named the "stormiest spot on the face of earth".{{Cite journal |last=Greely |first=A. W. |date=12 March 1915 |title=The Meterology of Adelie Land |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-1640386/page/n1/mode/2up?view=theater&q=wind |journal=Science |volume=41 |issn=0036-8075 |via=Internet Archive}}

The coast of Adélie Land was discovered in January 1840 by the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville (1790–1842) who named it after his wife, Adèle.{{Cite book |title=From Venus to Antarctica: The Life of Dumont D'Urville |last=Dunmore |first=John |year=2007 |publisher=Exisle Publ. |location=Auckland |isbn=978-0-908988-71-6 |page=209}}{{cite book |last=Hanks |first=Patrick |authorlink=Patrick Hanks |last2=Hardcastle |first2=Kate |last3=Hodges |first3=Flavia |title=A Dictionary of First Names |publisher=Oxford University Press |publication-place=Oxford, England |series=Oxford paperback reference |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-19-861060-1 |oclc=67869278 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9nd05X_awIgC |page=41 |access-date=20 November 2024}} This is the basis of the French claim to this Antarctic land. The first French research station, Port Martin, was built in 1950. It was destroyed by a fire in 1952, and replaced by Dumont d'Urville Station in 1956. Charcot Station was a French inland base built which was occupied from 1957 to 1960.

Cap Prud'Homme Camp, an Italian-French base, opened in 1994. Prud'Homme and Dumont d'Urville are the only currently remaining active stations.

Reconnaissance de la Terre Adelie, le 20 Janvier 1840.jpg|Discovery by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1840

Roquemaurel Roches Terre Adélie MHNT MIN 2013 0 1-5.jpg|Rocks brought back by the expedition in January 1840

{{Main|Port Martin}}

The site of Port Martin was discovered during a French Antarctic Expedition under {{ill|André-Frank Liotard|es|André Liotard|fr}} on 18 January 1950.{{cite web |year=2006 |title=Port Martin, Terre Adelie |url=http://www.ats.aq/documents/recatt/Att337_e.pdf |access-date=30 January 2013 |work=Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 166: Measure 1, Annex G |publisher=Antarctic Treaty Secretariat}} Liotard, along with 11 men, established the station on 9 April 1950 at {{coord|66|49|04|S|141|23|39|E|}}. Port Martin housed a winter population of 11 in 1950–51 and 17 in 1951–52.{{Cite news |date=26 January 1952 |title=Fire destroys station in Antarctica, French expedition's loss |newspaper=The Times}} A crew under Mario Marret built a temporary secondary base in January 1952: Base Marret on Petrel Island. Port Martin was destroyed by a fire during the night of 23–24 January 1952. All of the inhabitants were safely evacuated, and they overwintered at Base Marret.{{cite report |url=https://www.comnap.aq/s/COMNAP_Antarctic_Station_Catalogue.pdf |title=Antarctic Station Catalogue |date=August 2017 |publisher=Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs |page=75 |isbn=978-0-473-40409-3 |access-date=16 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022102847/https://static1.squarespace.com/static/61073506e9b0073c7eaaf464/t/611497cc1ece1b43f0eeca8a/1628739608968/COMNAP_Antarctic_Station_Catalogue.pdf |archive-date=22 October 2022 |url-status=live |type=catalogue}} Only the ancillary buildings of Port Martin were not destroyed by the fire and they have remained mostly untouched since.

{{Main|Dumont d'Urville Station}}

The Dumont d'Urville Station is a year-round French research base located at {{coord|66|40|S|140|01|E|}}. The station is {{convert|4815|m2|abbr=}} large and houses a summer population of 120 and a winter population of around 30. It was built on 12 January 1956 for the International Geophysical Year of 1957–58. Initially intended to be a temporary station, it was expanded and continually occupied. Like Base Marret, the station is located on Petrel Island, which is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the mainland. The station's research includes ecology, marine biology, glaciology, meteorology and more. In the documentary, March of the Penguins (2005), Dumont d'Urville Station was the main filming location.{{Cite web |year=2007 |title=The Emperor's Close-Up |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0511/whats_new/march_of_the_penguins.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605215043/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0511/whats_new/march_of_the_penguins.html |archive-date=5 June 2013 |access-date=29 May 2013 |work=National Geographic's Adventure |publisher=National Geographic Society}}

{{Infobox settlement

| name = Charcot Station

| native_name = Base Charcot

| native_name_lang = fr

| settlement_type = Antarctic research station

| image_skyline =

| image_caption =

| pushpin_map = Antarctica

| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Antarctica

| pushpin_relief = y

| coordinates = {{Polecoord|-69.3667|139.0167|type=station|name=Charcot Station}}

| coordinates_footnotes = {{cite web |title=Charcot /Fr./ |url=https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/scar/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=117417 |website=SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica |publisher=Australian Antarctic Data Centre |access-date=9 March 2024}}

| subdivision_type1 = Location

| subdivision_name1 =

| established_title = Established

| established_date = {{start date|1957|df=y}}

| extinct_title = Abandoned

| extinct_date = {{end date|1959|1|4|df=y}}

| named_for = Jean-Baptiste Charcot

| government_type = Administration

| governing_body = French Polar Institute

| elevation_footnotes =

| elevation_m = 2400

| population_footnotes =

| population_as_of =

| population_total = 3

| population_blank1_title = Summer

| population_blank1 =

| population_blank2_title = Winter

| population_blank2 =

| timezone1 =

| utc_offset1 =

| blank_name_sec1 = Active times

| blank_info_sec1 = All year-round

| blank1_name_sec1 = Activities

| blank1_info_sec1 =

| blank2_name_sec1 = Facilities

| blank2_info_sec1 =

}}

{{Ill|Charcot Station|fr|Base Charcot}} was a French inland base located on the Antarctic ice sheet at {{convert|320|km}} from the coast and from Dumont d'Urville Station, at an elevation of about {{convert|2400|m}}. The station, built for the International Geophysical Year of 1957–58, paid homage to Jean-Baptiste Charcot), and was occupied from January 1957 through 1960 housing solely three men.

The base was composed of a main body of {{convert|24|m2}} (the "barrack") which consisted of semi-cylindrical sections of sheet metal assembled end to end. This form was planned to best withstand the snow pressure accumulated on it. Horizontal galleries were connected to house scientific measurement devices, while a vertical air conduit opened a few metres above the snow level provided ventilation.

Robert Guillard Station{{cite web |url=https://www.pnra.aq/index.php/it/concordia/stazione-robert-guillard |title=Stazione Robert Guillard |website=PNRA |access-date=7 April 2023}} known as Cap Prud'Homme ({{coord|66.691104|S|139.895677|E|format=dms|region:AQ|display=inline}}) is an Italian-French camp, opened in 1994, located on the coast of the Antarctic ice sheet, in Adélie Land, about {{cvt|5|km|spell=in}} from Petrel Island, where the French Dumont d'Urville Station is. All the supplies and equipment for the Italian-French Concordia Station are transported by a combined convoy of up to seven Caterpillar tractors from Cap Prud'Homme, with Kässbohrer trailblazers and a team of up to nine people; each convoy transports an average of 150 tons of payload.{{cite web |url=https://www.italiantartide.it/cap-prouhomme/ |title=Cap Prud'Homme |website=Italiantartide |access-date=7 October 2018 |archive-date=29 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529004603/https://www.italiantartide.it/cap-prouhomme/ |url-status=dead}}

File:Colonie de manchots Adélies.jpg near the French Dumont d'Urville Station on Adélie Land, Antarctica]]

Part of the Pointe Géologie Archipelago in Adélie Land is protected by the Antarctic Specially Protected Area 120. In 2016, a study predicted that an Adélie penguin colony located in Cape Dennison in Commonwealth Bay might be subject to extinction. In 2010, a fallen glacier blocked the flow of a river and caused sea ice to overflow to the rocky surface that Adélie penguin requires to nest.{{Cite web |last=Collins |first=Richard |date=29 February 2016 |title=The Adélie penguins of Antarctica in great danger |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/arid-20384531.html |access-date=24 March 2023 |website=Irish Examiner |language=en}}

Before 2017, an estimated 18,000 pairs of Adélie penguin resided in the Adélie Land. However, in 2017, an insurgence of sea ice forced the penguins to travel further to reach the sea. Due to this, nearly all of the newborn penguins had died of starvation and exhaustion.{{Cite web |last=Ganguly |first=Manisha |date=13 October 2017 |title=Penguin catastrophe leaves thousands of chicks dead with only two survivors |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/13/world/antarctica-penguin-chicks-die/index.html |access-date=24 March 2023 |publisher=CNN |language=en}} The Dumont d'Urville Station is in proximity to Adélie penguins, emperor penguins, and seals.

• Adelie Land Meteorite
• Adélie Valley
• Research stations in Antarctica
• Antarctic field camps

{{reflist}}

{{coord|75|00|S|139|00|E|scale:40000000|display=inline,title}}

{{Districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands}}

{{French overseas departments and territories}}

{{Antarctic territorial claims}}

{{Antarctica}}

{{Antarctic fields camp}}

{{Outlying territories of European countries}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelie Land}}

Category:France and the Antarctic

Category:French Southern and Antarctic Lands

Category:Geography of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands

Category:Lands of Antarctica

Category:Regions of Antarctica

Category:Territorial claims in Antarctica