What is the cross and this stone pile?
The cross is a chilean memorial for all people who died on Base Bernardo O'Higgins from accidents or illness during the last decades. Inside the small stone monument there is a madonna with a blue dress (chileans are mostly catholic ;-). Cross and the small stone monument are about 2 meters apart and not a single object!
» Is it true that GARS O'Higgins is located on a small island?
Ermm..,
yes, the research station is located on a very small island (300x200 meters),
just a few meters away from the main land. In front of the station is nothing
else than a few islands and the Atlantic Ocean, behind are only large glaciers! The only way to get to the
glacier (where sometimes small supply airplanes land) is to walk over a small
and shaky suspension bridge! 
==>
picture. But primarily the station is provided by ships of the chilean
navy!
The glacier just next to O'Higgins raises about 80 meters (270 feet) above sea level. Here an interesting ==> picture (source: www.antarktis-station.de) The orange buildings belong to the chilean part of the station!
O'Higgins was inaugurated in February 1948 as a chilean military base, in 1991 Germany started to build its small station with the antenna. Today is has a maximum summer population of about 70 people, and 23 in average during winter. The german station is unmanned during winter time and has a maximum summer population of about 8 scientists and engineers.
» What is the large antenna for and what kind of research is done on this station?
The antenna is part of the German
Station GARS O'Higgins ==> pictures.
It's 9 meters in diameter and designed to operate even at horrific wind speeds
of 300 km/h without data loss! It was designed to meet the needs of the German Antarctic and geodetic research community for data from the south polar region. The high data rates of SAR sensors made it necessary to locate the station within the study area, and after inspection of several sites, the Bernardo O'Higgins military base, operated by Chile, was selected because of its excellent conditions regarding infrastructure, bedrock foundation, and access.
Because satellite ground station technology is similar to what is required to measure continental drift by very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), an important component of scientific investigations in the Antarctic, it was decided to create a facility which permitted combined ERS/VLBI operation.
The station is in operation 90-120 days throughout the year, although the focus is on Antarctic summertime, when it is possible to obtain ground measurements for reference purposes, as well as to exchange personnel and magnetic tape data carriers, and bring in supplies and replacement parts.
The German Antarctic Receiving Station (GARS) O’Higgins has been operated for more than 12 years as a joint effort by:
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DLR: German Aerospace Center (leading agency)
Objectives are to obtain data for:
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Remote Sensing (DLR) from ERS (mainly ERS2), LANDSAT, JERS, NOAA …
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Geodetic Research (BKG)
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Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI)
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GPS/GLONASS
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PRARE (Precise Range and Range Rate Equipment) orbits for ERS2
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Tide gauge for monitoring sea level changes
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monitoring meteorological data
» How many
cameras are online at O'Higgins, I see so many different pictures?
Four cameras: two cams belong to the Research Station (station cam 1 + 2), two cams are "penguin cam". The penguin cam have two lenses in one body with two independent CMOS Image Sensors (wide-angle-lens and tele-lens). That's the reason why we can receive two views from a single camera.
Our penguin webcam with two lenses in the weatherproof housing => an other picture
» Where are the webcams positioned?
Station cam 1 is positioned on top of the new meteorological tower of the Chilean Station, station cam 2 is mounted just next to penguin cam 1 on the corner of a container ==> pictures. Penguin cam 2 is located on a small hill about 30 meters away from penguin cam 1 ==> pictures. All cameras have no additional shelter or heating, they experience all the hard and heavy weather conditions in exposed outdoor conditions.
We only use MOBOTIX
cameras (made in Kaiserslautern/Germany) without any special modifications in a standard fitting.
First of all they provide the best webcam picture quality you can get on the
webcam market at the moment. The other big advantages:
- perfect for all hard weather conditions in the north antarctic, no
additional housing needed! The cameras will operate in a temperature range
from minus 40 degrees celsius up to plus 60 degrees celsius without any change
of quality!
- the webcams are like small computers with their own IP address in the computer-network of GARS O'Higgins. The webcams run on Linux as operating system and don't need an additional PC to be connected with the internet via satellite!
» Why you don't have streaming video?
This would be much too expensive!! This is a completely non-commercial project without money! But we might be able to offer you a very nice feature soon: short video clips (each about 10 seconds long) will be uploaded automatically by the camera several times a day. Due to our strong limitations in upload-bandwidth these clips will only have a framerate of about 6 frames per second, but with the same quality and size as the webcam pictures. You will need a special viewer for the clips (in the beginning only available for users of MS Windows operating systems. Maybe in early 2006 the viewer will be available for Linux and Mac users too!
For first infos please check the page of my White Stork webcam project: How to view MxPEG-Clips. It's a good training for you how to use the special viewer software until the first penguin MxPEG-clips will be available.
» Why are the images sometimes fuzzy, fogged or grayish?
As mentioned above the cams are all mounted outdoors. Snow or even rain during summer will cover the lenses. After a blizzard it can take days until the lenses are free of ice and snow. Crew members never clean the lenses, everything is done by the "weather elements"! We just have to be patient until everything looks OK. again.
During summer the most negative effect is caused by the sea. The penguin webcam is very near to the Atlantic Ocean, just 40 meters! The regular violent strong storms (the horrible windspeeds can reach 250 km/h = 155 mph or even more) bring huge amounts of salty spray and water all over the place and a layer of salt makes the webcam pictures look grey and low-contrasted. Then we have to wait for the next rain or snow to wash away the salt from the lens! Sometimes this can take weeks, so please be patient ;-) The salt on the lenses is our biggest problem, but it's just the result of a location with extreme hard weather conditions.
» How often have you been in the Antarctic?
I never was on this research station or somewhere else in the Antarctic and I am not associated with any kind of antarctic research! As a simple private individual I am just the initiator of this penguin webcam, nothing else. Maybe I can have the chance to visit the Antarctic one day...
Yes, it is! The russian station "Vostok" measured on 21 july 1983 with –89,2 degrees Celsius the coldest temperature on earth! But Antarctica is a large continent with many different climate zones. Our penguin webcam is located 3000 kilometers north of the South Pole. On O'Higgins it's very rare to observe lower temperatures than minus 30 degrees celsius! The webcam is located in the region with the "mildest" antarctic climate, the north of the antarctic peninsula, far away from the main continent. It's very much influenced by the ocean, scientists specify the climate as "upper suprapolar ultrahyperhumid". To learn more about the climate of O'Higgins check ==> this site (only visible with activated Java)
Typical for the Antarctic Peninsula are regular strong storms with a horrific force and much higher precipitation rates than on the main continent (about 10 times more). During summer time the temperatures even can reach + 10 degrees celsius on O'Higgins, usually all snow disappears from the small island of GARS O'Higgins. There are many glaciers just nextby to the station, ending in the Atlantic ocean and getting part of our webcam impressions... The glacier just next to O'Higgins raises about 80 meters (270 feet) above sea level. Here you can see an interesting ==> picture (source: www.antarktis-station.de) The orange buildings belong to the chilean part of the station!
Gentoo Penguins:
» When are the Gentoo penguins present?
Leave: the Gentoo penguins start to leave O'Higgins when the sea ice starts to build. This date differs each year. 2004 the last Gentoos were seen in early May. The main brood season is from November until February, but even this can differ from year to year. In bad years with lot of snow the Gentoos are forced to start late with their brood and the result can be a very low survival rate of the chicks!
After successfully raising their chicks the number of visible penguins is significantly decreasing - till almost no single penguin in sight. The reasons: the young penguins got independent and might leave O'Higgins completely. The adult penguins start an excessive feeding tour in the ocean for several weeks to gain weight (fat), after that they return and start their annual molting phase. During this time they are unable to eat anything, just standing at land and waiting for the new feathers. This is the reason that in the end of january/early march suddenly the number of visible penguins increasesonce again! We watchend this phenomenon now for the second time - it is a clearly visible biorythm which we can watch via the webcam.
Arrival: the gentoos never arrive all at once at a certain date! You can see a few already in september, maybe the most experienced individuals..? The main group appears when the sea ice has disappeared, this seems to be the most important trigger factor for them! In 2004 and 2005 this date was in the middle of October! We have observed several times now that the Gentoos disappear again after their first arrival, when winds from westerly or northerly directions push back lots of sea ice onto the coast. On the other hand it can be a matter of only one day of storm from the east or south (pushes the sea ice back to the ocean) to make the Gentoos return in large numbers!
After they have started their brood activities, they are forced to stay on their nests made of stone in any weather conditions, even the worst!
The Gentoo penguins have their own biorhythm. It's influenced by many biotic and abiotic factors, one of them is the weather situation. Before the real brood season starts, heavy cold storms can completely dispel the Gentoo penguins from O'Higgins. We already made this observation several times last year. We also have observed several times now, that the Gentoos disappear again after their first arrival, when winds from westerly or northerly directions push back lots of sea ice onto the coast. On the other hand it can be a matter of only one day of storm from the east or south (pushes the sea ice back to the ocean) to make the Gentoos return in large numbers! So it is always very interesting to compare their behaviour with the actual weather and ice conditions!
This species is not as specialized for cold conditions as the Emperor Penguins. The Gentoos' southernmost habitats are only 200 km south of O'Higgins! This means: this species already reaches its maximum physiological abilities in this part of the antarctic peninsula!
In general the most Gentoo penguins can be observed in the late evening.
» Why do the penguins stare at the Wall (tele-lens-view, picture one)? What are they looking for?
No, these penguins do not meditate and this wall is no bulletin board for them. This place at the wall/foundation is a very popular brood place for the Gentoos. There might be at least two important reasons:
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The foundation of the antenna gives very good shelter from the roaring storms and blizzards from southerly (south is to the left of the webcam pic), south-westerly and south-easterly directions. If they can manage to nest here, it's just an enormous energy safe effect! The chick survival rate might be significant higher there. In general those cold storms are a very important abiotic selection factor for the Gentoo penguins!
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This side of the foundation is perfectly orientated to the sun and is much earlier free of ice and snow than any other places on the island! This means: earlier start of brood, better conditions for the chicks and so on... there seem to be lots of very good reasons for the penguins to nest here.
After the winter they occupy this place as early as possible, the micro climate of this location is very attractive! Gentoos are territorial and defend their nests from others. If they just stand there it is their method to claim their nest, even long before snow and ice have disappeared.