Arrival Heights Laboratory

Arrival Heights Laboratory
Arrival Heights Laboratory
Antarctic base
	Looking south from the foot of Second Crater with Mount Discovery in the background
	Arrival Heights Laboratory Location of Arrival Heights Laboratory in Antarctica
	Coordinates: 77°49′48″S 166°39′44″E / 77.829947°S 166.662149°E
Country	New Zealand
Governing Treaty	Antarctic Treaty System (1961- present )
Administered by	Antarctica New Zealand
Status	Operational

Arrival Heights Laboratory is a research station in the Antarctic Specially Protected Area of Arrival Heights in Antarctica, around 2 km from McMurdo Station. Its one of the facilities on Hut Point Peninsula along with Scott Base (NZ) and McMurdo Station (US).

History

Arrival Heights Laboratory is a green shipping container building located within area 122 of the Antarctic Specially Protected Area.^[1] The area is an electromagnetic quite zone.^[1] McMurdo Station is located nearby.^[2]

Scientists from New Zealand came to area 122 in 1959.^[1] An Auroral Radar Station was established by New Zealand at Arrival Heights in 1959.^[2] 15 tonnes of radar and building materials were brought to the area in February 1960, and Arrival Heights Laboratory was completed in two days. The initial purpose of the base was to understand the nature of the aurora australis and its effect on radio communications. A new radar hut and storage facilities were constructed in December 1963. It currently researches upper atmosphere, trace gas monitoring, geomagnetic studies, and air quality surveys, most of which are conducted by NIWA.^[2]

Lidars are hosted by Arrival Heights Laboratory for McMurdo Station.^[3] Equipment for low frequency radar and aurora studies is housed at the laboratory for universities.^[4] It houses both New Zealand and United States instrumentation, including a Dobson ozone spectrophotometer. The remote location makes the station particularly suitable for the use of instruments sensitive to local and external noise and electromagnetic interference.^[2]