 Dallmann Laboratory, with whaling era relics in the foreground | |
| Established | 20 January 1994 |
|---|---|
Laboratory type | Antarctic station |
Field of research | List
|
| Location | Potter Cove, King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica 62°14′15″S 58°40′00″W / 62.237609°S 58.666716°W |
Operating agency | Alfred Wegener Institute |
| Map | |
  Location in Antarctica | |
Dallmann Laboratory is an on-site summer laboratory on King George Island, South Shetland Islands, at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, adjacent to the Argentinian Carlini Base with shared logistics. It is operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in cooperation with the Netherlands and Instituto Antártico Argentino. It is named after the polar sea explorer Eduard Dallmann.
It was inaugurated on 20 January 1994, has an area of 250 m2 (2,700 sq ft) and was built in mainland Argentina, disassembled, shipped to Potter Cove, and reassembled at the base.[1]
The lab has three modules for bedrooms, bathroom and living-dining room, two modules for laboratories and one for the engine room and dive locker. It also has four containers for laboratory and aquarium use donated by Germany.[1]
It has twelve workstations with laboratories, workshop, storage, aquariums and a base for research divers. It is equipped with several scientific instruments and vehicles provided by Germany: lyophilizer, stereo microscopes, freezers, a small hyperbaric chamber for transport, scuba diving equipment, aquariums, a rigid hull boat and a Kässbohrer tracked vehicle.[1][2]
Multidisciplinary joint research programs are carried out in the fields of biology; coastal and terrestrial ecology; terrestrial wildlife (mostly elephants and seals); pollution effects on birds and fish populations; oceanography; coastal geology; geosciences; etc. The station's research examines the composition and stability of algae and animal communities. Findings about the food relationships, and the physiology of the species give scientists insights into the development of the polar ecosystems facing global environmental changes.
Instituto Antártico Argentino, the Netherlands Geosciences Foundation and the Alfred Wegener Institute signed an agreement to provide a biological purification plant ceded by the Netherlands. It consists of a scrubber tank, a treatment and sludge drying plant, as well as facilities and equipment for process control and monitoring, and a set of basic spare parts and fuel reserves.[1]
