AWIPEV Arctic Research Station

Research station on the Svalbard archipelago of Norway

Place

78°55′30″N 11°55′20″E / 78.92500°N 11.92222°E / 78.92500; 11.92222Country

NorwayAdministered byAWI
IPEVActivities

Atmospheric Sciences
Permafrost studies
Glaciology
Balloon soundings
Biology
Satellite telecommunication

Established2003 (2003)Population

Ny-Alesund max capacity : 180
AWIPEV max capacity: 40

TypeAll Year-roundPeriodAnnualStatusOperational

The AWIPEV Arctic Research Station is located in the arctic, on the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. The station is part of the research base of Ny-Ålesund, owned and managed by Kings Bay AS. Researchers from more than 10 countries are based here. The AWIPEV station is leased and operated by the French Polar Institute (IPEV) and its German counterpart, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).

History

The AWIPEV station is founded in 2003 by IPEV and AWI. At the time, IPEV was managing the French Arctic stations of Rabot and Corbel, AWI was managing the German station Koldewey. In order to increase French-German cooperation in the Arctic, making bi-national projects and sharing the logistics, both polar institutes decided to merge their resources and create the first German-French bi-national polar station.^[1] AWIPEV can host up to 40 people. The maximum capacity at Ny-Alesund is 180 persons.^[2]

Infrastructures & Facilities

The AWIPEV research station disposes of several buildings:^[1]

The "Blue House" : base leader office, guest rooms and offices
Rabot building : Logistics engineer office, workshop, guest rooms
Atmospheric Observatory: Observatory engineer office, LIDARs, Instruments roof bay^[1]
Sounding balloon house
Corbel Station
Champ antennas
Snow scooters garage