ANTARCTIC RESEARCH

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30191, 24 July 1963, Page 10

ANTARCTIC RESEARCH

Site Of Biological Station Chosen

The National Science Foundation has chosen Anvers Island for the site of its permanent biological station on the Palmer Peninsula of Western Antarctica.

Used by a British expedition during the International Geophysical Year, the island lies off the Danco coast high on the western side of the Palmer Peninsula. The station, expected to be a major project in this season’s United States Antarctica research programme, will eventually be under tihe charge of Dr. M. E. Pryor, a biologist who in 1961-62 was the American exchange scientist at the Russian Antarctic base at Mirny.

This information was given in Christchurch by the senior representative of the United States Antarctic Research Programme (Mr E. E. Goodale).

Anvers Island has been chosen because scientists believe there is a greater variety of animal and plant life on the peninsula to study than is available around McMurdo Sound.

The United States Navy icebreaker Staten Island this year spent 10 weeks on a voyage to survey possible sites. Between January 5 and March 5, when the icebreaker let Antarctic waters, more than 26 places had been visited, some more than once On board the Staten Island for the voyage was a National Science Foundation team which assessed the possibilities of the sites. Mr Goodale said that the foundation authorities and Navy officials in Washington had still to decide whether the station would be established during the coming season.