History of the exploration of Antarctica by Soviet polar explorers

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

60 years ago, Soviet polar explorers were the first in the world to reach the South Pole of Inaccessibility in Antarctica and set up a temporary station there. They were able to repeat their feat only in 2007. According to experts, the achievement of Russian researchers was of colossal importance not only from a scientific, but also from a geopolitical point of view - by starting the active development of this territory, the USSR confirmed that it is a superpower. Specialists from Russia continue to work successfully in Antarctica, carrying out the most important scientific research.

Assumptions about the existence of a vast land in the southern part of our planet arose even in antiquity. However, there was no way to confirm them. The first ship, commanded by the Dutchman Dirk Gerritz, crossed the Antarctic Circle in 1599, accidentally fighting off a squadron in the Strait of Magellan. In the 17th and 18th centuries, English and French sailors discovered several islands in the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans. And in 1773-1774, the outstanding British traveler James Cook sent his ships south.

He made two attempts to move as much as possible towards the South Pole, but both times came across impassable ice, concluding that such undertakings were completely hopeless. Cook's authority was so great that for more than 40 years, mariners abandoned any serious attempts to search for the southern mainland.

Russian Columbus

In 1819, the great Russian navigator Ivan Kruzenshtern proposed to the Naval Ministry to send an expedition to the southern polar waters. The authorities supported the initiative. After long discussions, a young but already experienced naval officer, Faddey Bellingshausen, who had previously participated in the first Russian circumnavigation under the leadership of Kruzenshtern himself, was appointed to the place of the leader of the expedition. He set off on the sloop "Vostok". The second ship, the Mirny sloop, was commanded by Mikhail Lazarev. On January 28, 1820, Russian ships reached the coast of Antarctica at the point 69 ° 21 '28 "South latitude and 2 ° 14' 50" West longitude. In the course of research carried out in 1820-1821, Bellingshausen's expedition completely bypassed the southern mainland.

“It was one of the most important discoveries of its era - the last unknown continent. And it was Russian sailors who opened it to the whole world, said Konstantin Strelbitsky, chairman of the Moscow Fleet History Club, in an interview with RT.

However, according to the expert, until the beginning of the twentieth century, a systematic study of Antarctica was impossible.

“There wasn’t yet such a fleet that would make it possible to make regular voyages to the shores of the southern continent and land on them,” the expert noted.

In the middle and second half of the 19th century, only a few expeditions visited the shores of Antarctica. And only in 1895, the Norwegian expedition of Karsten Borchgrevink landed here for the first time and spent the winter. After that, the British, Norwegians and Australians began to study the continent. Between Norwegian Roald Amundsen and Briton Robert Scott, the race for the right to be the first to reach the South Pole unfolded. Amundsen won it on December 14, 1911. Scott, who did this a month later, died on the way back. Exploration of Antarctica was a very dangerous undertaking and, despite some success, it advanced extremely slowly until the middle of the twentieth century.

Pole of inaccessibility

“The Soviet Union began active polar research in the 1930s - in the Arctic. There was gained invaluable experience, but it was still not enough for the storming of Antarctica - the conditions at the two poles differed quite strongly,”stressed Strelbitsky.

According to him, people came to Antarctica on a permanent basis only in the middle of the twentieth century. During the Second World War, the Chileans and Argentines tried to use the mainland for military purposes for a short time. But only after the end of the war, permanent polar stations began to appear massively on the shores of the southern continent.

“The Soviet Union received a whaling fleet on reparations from Germany, on which the commercial development of Antarctic waters started,” Strelbitsky said.

In 1955, the Soviet Antarctic Expedition began to operate. On January 5, 1956, the diesel-electric ship "Ob" moored to the coast of the southern continent and the first landing of Soviet polar explorers in Antarctica took place. On February 13, the Mirny polar station was founded. In the spring, a tractor-sledge train set off from the station inland. On May 27, after a 370-kilometer hike, the first ever polar station located far from the coast, Pionerskaya, was created.

In 1956-1957, the second and third Soviet expeditions arrived in Antarctica. The participants of the latter, under the leadership of the outstanding polar explorer Yevgeny Tolstikov, went to the South Pole of Inaccessibility - the point farthest from the shores of the ocean, to which not a single person had ever been before.

On December 14, 1958, the South Pole of Inaccessibility was conquered. The polar explorers built a house, a meteorological station and a radio station on this site. A bust of Lenin was attached to the roof of the building and a red flag was raised. The temporary station was named the Pole of Inaccessibility. The polar explorers have prepared an airstrip next to it. On December 17, the Li-2 aircraft took four of the 18 participants of the campaign from the station. On December 26, having completed all the necessary scientific work, Soviet researchers mothballed the station and went to Mirny.

The foreigners managed to repeat the feat of Soviet polar explorers only in 2007. The British reached the pole of inaccessibility, using the power of kites. By this time the Soviet station was covered with snow, but the bust of Lenin could still be seen.

Geopolitical factor

“The presence of the USSR and then Russia in Antarctica is extremely important from the point of view of geopolitics. Having begun an active exploration of the southern continent, the Soviet Union at one time confirmed that it is a superpower and can promote its interests anywhere in the world, Konstantin Strelbitsky said in an interview with RT.

According to international treaties, Antarctica is a demilitarized zone. It is forbidden to place weapons and extract minerals on its territory. However, a number of countries, including the UK, Norway, Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, have already announced their claims to part of Antarctica. Similar hints were sounded from the United States. According to experts, the bowels of the continent are rich in minerals, and glaciers contain more than 90% of the world's drinking water.

“In Antarctica, important fundamental scientific research is being carried out, which, over time, will give serious practical results. In particular, without work in this area, it would be difficult to study climate change and make related forecasts. The research carried out by Russian scientists on Lake Vostok is unique. They make it possible to study the history of Earth's climate change over the past 400 thousand years,”said Viktor Boyarsky, director of the Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic in 1998-2016, honorary polar explorer of Russia, in an interview with RT.

According to him, Russia (and in the past the USSR) was the leader for most of the time in the number of Antarctic stations and, along with the United States, in terms of the amount of scientific information received from the southern continent.

“The fact that it is impossible to conduct military activities and mining in Antarctica makes the atmosphere there calmer and scientific exchange productive. At the same time, there is a certain rivalry. The ability to maintain the station and conduct scientific work in Antarctica is a quality mark for any state, concluded Viktor Boyarsky.