Zucchelli Station is an Italian seasonal research station in Antarctica, located at Terra Nova Bay on a granitic headland along the coast of the Northern Foothills to the north-east of Gerlache Inlet. It has been named after Mario Zucchelli, director of the activities, which conducted for sixteen years, for the ENEA-Unità Tecnica Antartide as part of the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA). The main functions carried out by the Station are:

Description

The Zucchelli Station is a seasonal (from mid-October until mid-March) research Antarctic Station on the Terra Nova Bay located at an altitude of 15 m and covers an area of approximately 7,500 square meters. In 2010, the Station was enlarged and in the austral summer the traverse leave for Concordia Station operated jointly with France.

Main building

The main building was built in 1985, in the first seasonal expedition, on a steel structure 1.5 m from the ground and consist of 82 containers, 42 of which used for the personnel accommodation and services while the remaining 40 to the support activities as:

Technical plants

Research activity

Icaro Camp

Icaro Camp (-74.71187°N, 164.11665°W) is a facility, fitted as a meteorological station, located 2 km south of the Zucchelli Station. The camp consists of two blue containers, held by guy-wires, meteorological equipment, solar panels and a wind generator. Although the structures are not suited to accommodate people, they could shelter a dozen in case of emergency.

Transportation

Boulder Clay Runway

Boulder Clay Runway (-74.73937°N, 164.03539°W) is located about 6 km south of Zucchelli Station on the Northern Foothills; the construction started in the 2016–17 season and will be completed in the 2021–22. The Italian team usually use an Ice Runway in the Gerlache Inlet to start the summer campaign but in recent years the ice runway was closed earlier then before because of the ice thickness had diminished due to partial melting of the ice. The airstrip is situated on the Boulder Clay Moraine and is built with the least environmental impact as possible. It is a gravel runway 2200 m long and 60 m wide in order to be suitable to the Safair or Aeronautica Militare C-130J or other larger types, such as the C-17 Globemaster, Airbus A319-115LR and Boeing 757. The airfield will be completed with a taxiway which connect the apron with the runway, an apron for aircraft parking and operational tasks, capable of stationing two C-130 Hercules, fire service as ICAO standards, fuel deposit, terminal and shed for the personnel, operation room and a power unit. The reduced thickness of the ice in the Ross Sea did not allowed to the heavier C-130J Hercules of the Italian Air Force to land on the sea ice runway. On 22 November 2022 at 4.30 CET a C-130J landed for the first time on the prepared gravel runway. Boulder Clay Runway will become an international hub as it can be utilised by the other nearby research stations.

Enigma Lake Skiway

Enigma Lake Skiway is situated at an elevation of 135 m, on the Northern Foothills, 3 km south of Zucchelli Station on an iced lake. Being 725 m long it is operated by the Twin Otters and Basler BT-67. The skyway is prepared by removing the snow accumulated in the winter by the Station staff; in the same place stands an AWS (Rita) which makes part of the network managed by the Antarctic Meteo-Climatological Weather Observatory.

Zucchelli Ice Runway

Zucchelli Ice Runway is located in the Gerlache Inlet and is prepared, at the beginning of each season, by the station's logistic personnel in mid-October. The sea ice runway is suitable for operating the Aeronautica Militare or Safair wheeled C-130, but in the latest years it was closed earlier than before because the sea ice break up. Two runways are prepared, one is the 03/21 which is 3090 m long and 76 m wide used by the C-130, the other is the 06/24 which is shorter measuring 1640 m in length and 50 m in width utilised by the Twin Otters and the Basler BT-67.

Climate

AWS Network

The Antarctic Meteo-Climatological Weather Observatory, established in 1985, attempt to a give a contribution to understand the climate change through the study of the atmospheric dynamics. The programme is defined by two projects supported by the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA), one regarding the Victoria Land and the other the Concordia Station, carried out by the ENEA personnel. The centre run an Automatic weather station network, distributed through the territory, having the responsibility of the instrumentation assembly, the maintenance and the data collection. The network include 16 AW stations operating all year around:

Gallery