Italian Infrastructures in Antarctica
download the panelMario Zucchelli Station (MZS)
The Station is located in the Terra Nova Bay area on a peninsula overlooking the Ross Sea, between the Campbell and Drygalski glaciers (74°42′ S, 164°07′ E). Operational only in summer, from mid-October to mid-February, it experiences temperatures between -25°C and +5°C and catabatic winds exceeding 100 km/h.
Built from 1986, it hosts an average of 83 people. It has a covered area of 7,500 m², including accommodation, offices, canteen, recreation areas, infirmary, chemical, biological, geological, and electronic laboratories, and a computer room. The station is equipped with astronomical, geophysical, and meteorological observatories and a brand-new aquarium.
Concordia Station
The Concordia Station, operational year-round and the result of Italian-French collaboration (PNRA and IPEV), is located on the Antarctic plateau at Dome C (75°06′ S, 123°21′ E), at 3,233 m altitude.
Built between 1998 and 2004, it has operated continuously since 2005 and is one of only three stations in continental Antarctica open in winter. It consists of two cylindrical towers connected together, each 18.5 m in diameter and 11 m high over three floors (250 m² per floor), raised on adjustable supports to compensate for ice movement.
One tower houses “noisy” activities: technical work, canteen, and recreation; the other contains laboratories, accommodation, hospital, and “quiet” activities. Electricity is produced by two diesel generators, water is obtained by melting snow and recycled when possible, and communications are via satellite. The station hosts up to 65 people in summer and 16 in winter.
Heavy supplies arrive overland from the French coastal station Dumont D’Urville, over a thousand kilometers away, while personnel and light cargo are transported by air. Concordia’s location is ideal for research in glaciology, astronomy, and atmospheric chemistry and physics. The unique climatic and isolation conditions, similar to long-duration space missions, also allow biomedical and psychological research.
Laura Bassi ship
The Laura Bassi ship of the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (OGS) is now the only Italian icebreaker for oceanographic research able to operate in polar seas, both in Antarctica and the Arctic. Named after the Bolognese scientist Laura Bassi (1711–1778), the first woman to teach at a university at just 21, it is about 80 m long and can carry 72 people.
The ship has been operational in the PNRA since 2019, serving both cargo and research roles, equipped with acoustic instruments for seabed and water column studies, coring and water sampling systems, a multichannel seismic system, three laboratories, satellite communications, and a helicopter deck.
Boulder Clay airstrip
The Boulder Clay airstrip, at the start of the expedition, allows access to MZS by air. Planes land on sea ice when it is at least 2 m thick, on runways 3,000 m long. As the austral summer progresses, the ice becomes unstable and eventually disappears.
In recent years, thanks to collaboration between ENEA and the Air Force and support from the Fire Brigade and the Ministry of University and Research, a permanent 60 m wide, 1,700 m long gravel runway has been built 7 km from MZS. Unique in the Ross Sea area, it is essential infrastructure that has improved the reliability, flexibility, and safety of PNRA air operations.
