The French-Italian concordia station

Abstract

Concordia is a French-Italian permanent station located at Dome C, Antarctica. The station provides accommodation for up to 16 people over winter and more than 70 scientists and technicians during the austral summer. The scientific projects implemented at Concordia are strictly dependent on the characteristics of the site: a) the presence of a 3 300 m thick ice cap that allows access to the planet's climate archives and the reconstruction of glacial-interglacial cycles over more than 800 000 years; b) a particularly stable pure and dry atmosphere ideal for astronomy observations and for research on the chemical composition of the atmosphere; c) a distant location from coastal perturbations favourable to magnetic and seismological observatories to complement a poor world data network in the southern hemisphere; and d) a small totally isolated group of people confined to the station over a long winter, offering an opportunity for a range of medical and psychological studies useful to prepare long duration deep space missions. We will address the main characteristics of this station and its interest for science. Copyright © 2013 International Astronomical Union.