Basic Information

Location: (071° 40,42'S and 002° 50,45'W) The SANAE IV station is built on an outcrop of rock, or nunatak, called "Vesleskarvet" in Dronning Maud Land.
Completed: 1997/8

History

South Africa was an original signatory to the Antarctic Treaty, and has had 3 previous bases in Antarctica. The three previous bases were on the Ice Shelf.

Science

SANAE participates in several international collaboration experiments, including:

• SHARE: in conjunction with Halley (British Antarctic Survey) and Syowa (Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition). SHARE is part of the global SuperDARN experiment which includes a radar at Goose Bay (John Hopkins University).
• AMIGO: forms part of the global STEP (Solar-Terrestrial Energy Programme) experiment, and includes, Manetometers, Riometers, Imaging Devices, VLF detection equipment and OMNIPAL receivers.
• ANOKS: Antarctic Research on Cosmic Rays is an experiment to measure cosmic ray variations.
• Astrid satellite telemetry station: SANAE operates and utilises data from the Southern Hemisphere's groundstation for the Swedish satellite Astrid 2.
• Upper Atmosphere Physics: These experiments deal primarily with Ozone layer depletion studies.
• GPS Project: The data is used by South African local geographic studies as well as studies conducted by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research.

Geographic Location