About the Station-1

I will give a brief idea about our station.

Maitri is situated in a 13×5 km region of exposed rock called Schirmacher
Oasis, which is located in central Dronning Maudland region of east
Antarctica at 70°45'S and 11°44'E . Schirmacher Oasis is called so because
it is an oasis of exposed earth in the huge continental ice cap that covers
98% of Antarctica. It is somewhat of a depression so the temperatures are
around 10°C less than the surrounding glaciers. The wind velocity is also
less. We are about 2500 km away from the South Pole and around 100 km from
the coast.

Schirmacher is a hilly area with the highest point being Trishul hill,
rising about 300 mtr above sea level. The other prominent hills are Shivling
and Bataiya hill. Schirmacher has about 120 lakes, all of them glacier fed.
The water supply of our station also comes from one such lake called the
Priyadarshani Lake or the Zob Lake. These lakes do not support life except
for a few micro-organisms and mosses because of the extreme climate.

Schirmacher was once covered by the glacier, but gradually, the glacier
receded and the underlying earth was exposed. The imprints of the glacier
movement can be seen on the rocks. One can make out the direction of glacier
movement from these imprints.

The temperature during summers is about 0°C and during winters is -30°C.
The most feared thing here are the blizzards. The wind velocity during
blizzards is about 100 knots. Such winds would cause immense damage in the
civilized world. The blizzards continue for about 4-5 days at a stretch and
many times one blizzard follows the other in quick succession. They lead to
immense snow deposition, often covering half the station in snow. The pisten
bullys get completely buried in snow. The snow deposition here is due to
blowing snow from the coast, rather than actual precipitation. We are
restricted indoors during the blizzards. The peculiar thing about the winds
here is that they always blow from the south or the south- east. It's as if
they don't know any other direction.