Little America (exploration base)

Little America (exploration base)

Little America is an Antarctic exploration base, located on the Ross Ice Shelf, south of the Bay of Whales. It was established in 1929 by Richard Byrd, and used frequently afterwards by Byrd and other explorers. In the late 1950s, it served as the American base in the South Polar program in the IGY.

Admiral Richard Byrd led the first Antarctic expedition that used airplanes in Antarctica, and Byrd was the first to travel by air over the South Pole, completing a journey in hours that had taken months by Amundsen and Scott. Byrd was the first man to see the pole since Scott, and, unable to land, could only drop a bag with a flag. While southbound, Byrd's flight had been unable to climb over the mountains until two bags of supplies, other than fuel, were dropped.

Byrd also tried an early helicopter, but it crashed fairly soon. Little America, the base of operations, established the first successful radio broadcasting from Antarctica, making regular broadcasts that could be picked up by household radio sets in the United States, more than 11,000 miles away around the Earth's curvature.

Many souvenir letters were sent from Little America, using a commemorative postage stamp issued by the U.S. government. They are readily available at modest prices.

Byrd spent months by himself deep inland beginning in late March 1934 making weather and auroral observations, but got very sick due to the fumes from his stove, radio generator and pressure lantern. Although he made no mention of this fact to his men in Little America during radio contact, they became suspicious that something was wrong. After several aborted attempts, an overland expedition from Little America fought the cold and dark and reached him in August. Byrd was finally able to return to Little America on October 1934. The story of his solitary stay in temperatures down to -82 °F (-63 °C) is told in his 1938 book "Alone".

In a later expedition to Antarctica, Byrd's expedition spotted Little America's towers still standing.

External links

* [http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_72/rsnz_72_04_002900.html Paper by CE Palmer, RNZAF on "Winds at Little America", 1929]

ee also

*Iceberg B-9 calves and carries away "Little Americas"
*List of Antarctic expeditions


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Little America — may refer to: * Little America (exploration base), an antarctic exploration base * Little America Hotels * Little America, Wyoming * Little America (Alphaville DVD) * Little Amerricka, an amusement park in Marshall, Wisconsin …   Wikipedia

  • Little America — est une base d exploration Antarctique, située sur la barrière de Ross, au sud de la baie des Baleines. Elle a été établie en 1929 par Richard Byrd, et a ensuite été utilisé par Byrd et d autres explorateurs. Dans la fin des années 1950, elle a… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Little America — a base in the Antarctic, on the Bay of Whales, S of the Ross Sea: established by Adm. Richard E. Byrd of the U.S. Navy in 1929; used for later Antarctic expeditions. * * * ▪ research station, Antarctica       principal American base in Antarctica …   Universalium

  • Exploration of Jupiter — Jupiter as seen by the space probe Cassini. This is the most detailed global color portrait of Jupiter ever assembled …   Wikipedia

  • Exploration of the Moon — Apollo 12 lunar module Intrepid prepares to descend towards the surface of the Moon. NASA photo. The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made an impact on the surface of the Moon on …   Wikipedia

  • Latin America, history of — Introduction       history of the region from the pre Columbian period and including colonization by the Spanish and Portuguese beginning in the 15th century, the 19th century wars of independence, and developments to the end of World War II.… …   Universalium

  • European exploration — Introduction       the exploration of regions of the Earth for scientific, commercial, religious, military, and other purposes by Europeans beginning in the 15th century.       The motives that spur human beings to examine their environment are… …   Universalium

  • History of the west coast of North America — The human history of the west coast of North America [The term North America has a variety of meanings, including just the United States and Canada, those two countries plus Mexico, or all of the continent from Panama north; this article uses… …   Wikipedia

  • Polar exploration — is the physical exploration of the Arctic and Antarctic regions of the Earth. It is also denotes the historical period during which mankind most intensely explored the regions north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle.… …   Wikipedia

  • North America — North American. the northern continent of the Western Hemisphere, extending from Central America to the Arctic Ocean. Highest point, Mt. McKinley, 20,300 ft. (6187 m); lowest, Death Valley, 276 ft. (84 m) below sea level. 400,000,000 including… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”