Arctowski Station Vicinity, King George Island (ARCT)
62˚15’S, 58˚51’W Magnetic declination: 13.0˚E Inventory subarea: SH Inventory acronym: ARCT Site Sensitivity: LOW Location — History — Features The station is named for Henryk Arctowski, the Polish geologist, oceanographer, and meteorologist of the Belgian Antarctic expedition (1897-99). The research station lies on a flat, shingle peninsula flanked to the S by a bay-mouth bar enclosing a small lagoon. The beach is largely cobble and the bay-mouth bar is mainly rounded cobbles, but there is a black sand beach at lower water levels. From the head of the peninsula, marked by a towering rock of brown-weathering, basalt material, visitors may traverse this cobble beach, which is known as Half Moon Beach, for almost 0.5 mile, to an elephant seal wallow at the boundary of the Point Thomas Antarctic Specially Protected Area. The beach is littered with whale bones. The ground around the station area is spongy and muddy, made up of rounded sand and pebbly material. Directly behind the station is a large morainal ridge. This moraine has fragments of fossil woody-plant material, which appears to be Nothofagus , the genus of beech trees from Tierra del Fuego. In the moss-strewn hills above and to the S of the station is an Historic Site and Monument, the grave of Wladzimierz Puchalski. He was an artist and producer of documentary films, and died in January 1979 while working at the station. The grave is marked by a tall iron cross. Arctowski Station is the Polish research base located in Admiralty Bay, South Shetland Islands. The short, easily walked beach in “front” of the station is called Half Moon Beach, and it extends for 0.5 mile to the N boundary of the Point Thomas Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA). As a matter of geography, Point Thomas is located NW of Arctowski Station and outside of the ASPA, at the opening to Ezcurra Inlet. The high cliffs extending toward Ezcurra Inlet contain many nesting skuas and storm-petrels and would be easily disturbed by visitor encroachment. Half Moon Beach is frequently visited by expedition vessel passengers (usually in conjunction with Station visits), and ends at an elephant seal wallow that abuts the boundary of the ASPA. Late in each season, fur seals often are found on the Deschampsia and moss inland from the beach. Skuas also breed here and the wet areas are totally off-limits to visitors. There are no colonies of penguins or seabirds along this stretch of Half Moon Beach. Skuas occasionally nest on the grassy plain inward of the landing site. As the summer progresses, a snow melt lake develops on this plain, which becomes a skua bathing spot. There is very little room for tourists between the ASPA boundary and the Station. Landing Characteristics Henryk Arctowski Station is the Polish research base located in Admiralty Bay. Landings near the “Lighthouse” on short cobble beach fronting the station. Visitors are confined to the cobble beach and prohibited from hiking uphill into the Antarctic Specially Protected Area, which is totally off-limits. A visitor trail, marked by stones, extends from the vicinity of the seal wallow to the station. Antarctic Site Inventory Effort Visits by Antarctic Site Inventory researchers, 1994-2003: 1. November 26, 1994 RN ST from COPA 2. November 27, 1994 RN from COPA 3. December 4, 1994 RN from COPA 4. January 12, 1995 RN RD Livonia 5. November 17, 1995 RN LB Explorer 6. December 1, 1995 RN LB Explorer 7. February 2, 1996 RD RP Livonia 8. November 29, 1997 RN W. Discoverer 9. November 26, 1998 RN SF Explorer Assessment and monitoring. None by the Inventory. These tasks presumably accomplished by base personnel. Fauna — Flora — Censuses Penguins & flying birds . Confirmed breeders in the immediate station vicinity (but not within the confines of the ASPA) include Antarctic brown skuas (and hybrid skua pairs), Wilson’s and black-bellied storm petrels. Adélie, gentoo, and chinstrap penguins, and kelp gulls nest within the ASPA. Blue-eyed shags nest at various locations in Admiralty Bay. All penguins breeding at this site are within the boundary of the ASPA. Woehler & Croxall (1996) list a minimum breeding population of 8,645 pairs of Adélie penguins, 100 pairs of gentoo penguins, and 18 pairs of chinstrap penguins at Point Thomas. These counts are from the 1989-90 season and reflect decreases in all three species since 1980. The researchers within the ASPA have noted recent, significant declines in chinstrap penguins (W. Trivelpiece, pers . comm .). On King George Island as a whole, Woehler & Croxall (1996) note recent data suggesting a decrease in the Adélie penguin breeding population from approximately 33,000 pairs in 1980-91, to approximately 14,000 pairs in 1989-90. Since 1976 in Admiralty Bay, Adélie populations have been highly variable, but declined sharply after the late 1980s, and are 30% lower on average since 1990 than between 1976-88; recruitment rates have decreased at the same time (SCAR, 1996). Seals . Weddell and southern elephant seals frequently haul-out on Half Moon Beach, and the elephant seal wallow at the end of Half Moon Beach builds in numbers as the summer progresses. In many seasons, Antarctic fur seals will haul-out on the moss and Deschampsia between the beach and the station. Flora . Deschampsia and cushion moss beds are found between Half Moon Beach and the station. There are many crustose lichens spp. along the shore and extensive swards of Usnea , spp. Conservation Aspects Site sensitivities. All nesting penguins are within the boundary of the Antarctic Specially Protected Area, which is totally off limits. Patches of moss and grass near the beach are readily accessed and easily disturbed, but also, are totally off limits. No penguins nest along the visitor beach. Southern elephant seals frequent a wallow at the end of the visitor beach, and are easily approached and disturbed. Pointers for avoiding disruptions.
Visitation Aspects Numbers of tourist zodiac landings and participating visitors, 1989-2003:
Proximate visitor sites. The Brazilian Ferraz Station is located across Admiralty Bay in Martel Inlet. |
