Esperanza Base

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title: "Esperanza Base" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["argentine-antarctica", "outposts-of-graham-land", "populated-places-established-in-1953", "trinity-peninsula", "historic-sites-and-monuments-of-antarctica", "cemeteries-in-antarctica", "lighthouses-in-antarctica", "1953-establishments-in-antarctica"] topic_path: "general/argentine-antarctica" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanza_Base" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
name	Esperanza Base
native_name	Base Esperanza
native_name_lang	es
settlement_type	All year Antarctic base with civilian presence
image_skyline	Hope Bay-2016-Trinity Peninsula–Esperanza Station 03.jpg
image_alt	View of Esperanza Base, January 2016
image_caption	View of Esperanza Base, January 2016
imagesize	300
image_blank_emblem	Base Esperanza.png
blank_emblem_type	Emblem
blank_emblem_alt	Official Esperanza Base emblem
motto
("Permanence, an act of sacrifice")
pushpin_map	Antarctica
pushpin_map_alt	Location of Esperanza Base in Antarctica
pushpin_map_caption	Location of Esperanza Base in Antarctica
pushpin_mapsize	300
pushpin_relief	yes
coordinates
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Argentina
subdivision_type1	Region
subdivision_name1	{{plainlist
subdivision_type2	Location
subdivision_name2	{{plainlist
subdivision_type3	Administered by
subdivision_name3	Argentine Antarctic Institute (under the supervision of the Argentine National Antarctic Directorate)
established_title	Established
established_date
named_for
("Hope Base")
area_urban_footnotes
area_urban_ha	0.3744
elevation_m	25
elevation_footnotes
unit_pref	metric
population_as_of	2017
population_footnotes
population_blank1_title	Summer
population_blank1	116
population_blank2_title	Winter
population_blank2	56
blank_name_sec1	Type
blank_info_sec1	All-year round
blank1_name_sec1	Period
blank1_info_sec1	Annual
blank2_name_sec1	Status
blank2_info_sec1	Operational
blank_name_sec2	Activities
blank_info_sec2
code1_name	UN/LOCODE
code1_info	AQ ESP
website
::

| image_blank_emblem = Base Esperanza.png | blank_emblem_type = Emblem | blank_emblem_size = | blank_emblem_alt = Official Esperanza Base emblem

| nickname = | motto =
("Permanence, an act of sacrifice")

| coordinates = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Argentina | subdivision_type1 = Region | subdivision_name1 = {{plainlist|

Graham Land
Antarctic Peninsula}} | subdivision_type2 = Location | subdivision_name2 = {{plainlist|
Hope Bay
Trinity Peninsula}} | subdivision_type3 = Administered by | subdivision_name3 = Argentine Antarctic Institute (under the supervision of the Argentine National Antarctic Directorate) | established_title = Established | established_date = | named_for = ("Hope Base") | area_urban_footnotes = | area_magnitude = | area_urban_ha = 0.3744 | elevation_m = 25 | elevation_footnotes =

| leader_title = | leader_name =

| unit_pref = metric

Esperanza Base (, 'Hope Base') is a permanent, all-year-round Argentine research station in Hope Bay, Trinity Peninsula (in Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula). It is the only civilian settlement on the Antarctic mainland (the Chilean Villa Las Estrellas is on the South Shetland Islands). The base's motto is Permanencia, un acto de sacrificio ('Permanence, an act of sacrifice').

Description

Built in 1953, the base houses 56 inhabitants in winter, including 10 families and 2 school teachers. Provincial school #38 Presidente Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (formerly named Julio Argentino Roca) was founded in 1978 and acquired independent status in 1997. It maintains the furthest South Scout troop. The base has an Argentine civil register office where births and weddings are recorded. The base has tourist facilities that are visited by about 1,100 tourists each year.

The LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel radio station started transmitting in 1979 and currently broadcasts on 15476 kHz shortwave and 96.7 MHz FM. It is one of the southernmost radio stations in the world and its range signal includes audio identification in multiple languages. The host of "Panorama Nacional" Marcelo Ayala told at the beginning of 2024 about his life experience and broadcast by LRA36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel.

A wind generator was installed in 2008, mounted by INVAP.

The 43 buildings of the station have a combined space of 3744 m2 covered; 18000 L of fuel are used annually by the four generators to produce electricity for the station. Research projects include: glaciology, seismology, oceanography, coastal ecology, biology, geology, and limnology.

In the Hope Bay incident in 1952, this area was also the scene of the only shots fired in anger in Antarctica, when an Argentine shore party fired a machine gun over the heads of a Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey team unloading supplies from the John Biscoe to rebuild its damaged base. Following the Argentine show of force, the British team returned to the Falkland Islands. Shortly afterwards, Argentina issued a diplomatic apology, saying there had been a misunderstanding and the military commander on the ground had exceeded his authority. Despite this initial outward show of deference, the party was later welcomed back to Argentina with a hero's welcome. In the meantime, the John Biscoe had returned from the Falklands with a military escort and completed rebuilding the British base. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 now treats the continent as a laboratory open to all, and provides that "no acts or activities ... shall constitute a basis for asserting, supporting or denying a claim to territorial sovereignty."

People

Main article: List of people born at Esperanza Base

The base was the birthplace of Emilio Palma, the first person to be born in Antarctica. There have been at least ten other children born at the base.

Climate

Like the rest of the Antarctic Peninsula, the base has a polar climate characterized by strong winds that descend downwards from the Antarctic ice sheet. These winds can exceed 250 km/h, leading to blowing snow and reduced visibility.

Mean monthly temperatures range from -10.8 C in July, the coldest month, to 1.5 C in January, the warmest month. This reading was the highest temperature ever recorded on mainland Antarctica and its surrounding islands, until on 6 February 2020, a new high of 18.3 C was recorded at the base, being the current record and considered by the World Meteorological Organization to be the highest temperature ever recorded for mainland Antarctica and its surrounding islands. The lowest temperature ever recorded is -38.4 C on 18 July 1994.

The temperature trend since 1948 is +0.0315 °C/yr (+0.0567 °F/yr) (annual), +0.0413 °C/yr (+0.0743 °F/yr) (winter) and +0.0300 °C/yr (+0.0540 °F/yr) (summer).

|location = Esperanza (1991–2020, extremes 1945–present) |metric first = Yes |single line = Yes |temperature colour = |Jan record high C = 14.9 |Feb record high C = 18.3 |Mar record high C = 17.5 |Apr record high C = 17.1 |May record high C = 17.2 |Jun record high C = 13.3 |Jul record high C = 14.0 |Aug record high C = 13.0 |Sep record high C = 11.4 |Oct record high C = 17.0 |Nov record high C = 14.3 |Dec record high C = 14.6 |year record high C = 18.3 |Jan high C = 4.3 |Feb high C = 3.9 |Mar high C = 1.4 |Apr high C = -1.7 |May high C = -3.2 |Jun high C = -6.2 |Jul high C = -6.4 |Aug high C = -5.1 |Sep high C = -2.6 |Oct high C = -0.2 |Nov high C = 2.3 |Dec high C = 3.8 |year high C = -0.8 |Jan mean C = 1.5 |Feb mean C = 0.9 |Mar mean C = -2.0 |Apr mean C = -5.5 |May mean C = -7.4 |Jun mean C = -10.4 |Jul mean C = -10.8 |Aug mean C = -9.5 |Sep mean C = -6.9 |Oct mean C = -4.1 |Nov mean C = -0.9 |Dec mean C = 0.8 |year mean C = -4.5 |Jan low C = -1.2 |Feb low C = -2.0 |Mar low C = -5.2 |Apr low C = -8.9 |May low C = -11.2 |Jun low C = -14.1 |Jul low C = -15.0 |Aug low C = -13.7 |Sep low C = -10.9 |Oct low C = -7.8 |Nov low C = -3.9 |Dec low C = -1.8 |year low C = -8.0 |Jan record low C = -8.5 |Feb record low C = -13.2 |Mar record low C = -20.9 |Apr record low C = -26.0 |May record low C = -29.6 |Jun record low C = -30.0 |Jul record low C = -38.4 |Aug record low C = -32.0 |Sep record low C = -32.6 |Oct record low C = -23.2 |Nov record low C = -18.0 |Dec record low C = -9.7 |year record low C = -38.4 |Jan precipitation mm = 56.2 |Feb precipitation mm = 65.0 |Mar precipitation mm = 75.5 |Apr precipitation mm = 59.1 |May precipitation mm = 54.4 |Jun precipitation mm = 47.4 |Jul precipitation mm = 54.1 |Aug precipitation mm = 72.1 |Sep precipitation mm = 62.2 |Oct precipitation mm = 56.4 |Nov precipitation mm = 65.0 |Dec precipitation mm = 59.0 |year precipitation mm = 726.4 |unit precipitation days = 0.1 mm |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation days = 14 |Feb precipitation days = 14 |Mar precipitation days = 17 |Apr precipitation days = 17 |May precipitation days = 14 |Jun precipitation days = 11 |Jul precipitation days = 13 |Aug precipitation days = 15 |Sep precipitation days = 15 |Oct precipitation days = 15 |Nov precipitation days = 16 |Dec precipitation days = 16 |year precipitation days = |Jan snow days = 13.6 |Feb snow days = 12.1 |Mar snow days = 14.8 |Apr snow days = 16.0 |May snow days = 15.4 |Jun snow days = 14.8 |Jul snow days = 15.2 |Aug snow days = 15.4 |Sep snow days = 15.1 |Oct snow days = 16.6 |Nov snow days = 15.5 |Dec snow days = 14.1 |year snow days = 178.6 |Jan humidity = 82 |Feb humidity = 80 |Mar humidity = 80 |Apr humidity = 80 |May humidity = 80 |Jun humidity = 79 |Jul humidity = 80 |Aug humidity = 80 |Sep humidity = 79 |Oct humidity = 80 |Nov humidity = 81 |Dec humidity = 80 |year humidity = 80 |Jan sun = 167.4 |Feb sun = 130.0 |Mar sun = 93.0 |Apr sun = 63.0 |May sun = 27.9 |Jun sun = 6.0 |Jul sun = 18.6 |Aug sun = 52.7 |Sep sun = 87.0 |Oct sun = 130.2 |Nov sun = 159.0 |Dec sun = 186.0 |year sun = |Jand sun = 5.4 |Febd sun = 4.6 |Mard sun = 3.0 |Aprd sun = 2.1 |Mayd sun = 0.9 |Jund sun = 0.2 |Juld sun = 0.6 |Augd sun = 1.7 |Sepd sun = 2.9 |Octd sun = 4.2 |Novd sun = 5.3 |Decd sun = 6.0 |yeard sun = 3.1 |source 1 = Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (temperature/snowy days/sun 1991–2020, precipitation 1961–1990),{{cite web | url = https://ssl.smn.gob.ar/dpd/observaciones/estadisticas_normales_9120.zip | title = Estadísticas Climatológicas Normales - período 1991-2020 | publisher = Servicio Meteorológico Nacional | language = es | access-date = 16 May 2023}}{{cite web | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230708235600/http://repositorio.smn.gob.ar/bitstream/handle/20.500.12160/2506/estad%C3%ADsticas_climatol%C3%B3gicas_normales_1991-2020.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y | archive-date = 8 July 2023 | url = http://repositorio.smn.gob.ar/handle/20.500.12160/2506 | title = Estadísticas Climatológicas Normales – período 1991–2020 | publisher = Servicio Meteorológico Nacional | language = es | access-date = 8 July 2023 | year = 2023 | last1 = Nacional | first1 = Servicio Meteorológico | url = http://www3.smn.gob.ar/serviciosclimaticos/?mod=turismo&id=7&provincia=Ant%E1rtida&ciudad=B.%20Esperanza | language = es | title = B. Esperanza Statistical Data (1961-1990) | publisher = Servicio Meteorológico Nacional | access-date = January 23, 2016}} | url = http://www3.smn.gob.ar/serviciosclimaticos/?mod=elclima&id=5&var=antartida | title = Valores Medios de Temperatura y Precipitación-Antártida: Base Esperanza | publisher = Servicio Meteorológico Nacional | language = es | access-date = January 23, 2016}} NOAA (precipitation 1961–1990) | server = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | title = Base Esperanza Climate Normals 1961–1990 | access-date = January 23, 2016}} |source 2 = Meteo Climat (record highs and lows), | url = http://meteo-climat-bzh.dyndns.org/index.php?page=stati&id=38 | title = Station Base Esperanza | publisher = Meteo Climat | language = fr | access-date = June 6, 2016}} Deutscher Wetterdienst (humidity, 1982–1995) | url = http://www.dwd.de/DWD/klima/beratung/ak/ak_889630_kt.pdf | title = Klimatafel von Esperanza (Argentinien) / Antarkt. Halbinsel / Antarktis | work = Baseline climate means (1961-1990) from stations all over the world | publisher = Deutscher Wetterdienst | language = de | access-date = January 23, 2016}} |date=August 2010

Historic site

A group of items or structures of historic significance at, or close to, the base have been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 40), following a proposal by Argentina to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. These comprise a bust of General San Martin, a grotto with a statue of the Virgin of Lujan, a flagpole erected in 1955, and a cemetery with a stele commemorating Argentine expedition members who died in the area.

General Martín Güemes Refuge

Refuge General Martín Güemes is the name given to two shelters in Antarctica. The first one is covered by ice, the second one is active. The refuge is Administered by the Argentine Army and depends on Esperanza Base, which is responsible for maintenance and care. The two refuges are located on the Tabarin Peninsula on the eastern tip of the Trinity Peninsula on the Antarctic Peninsula 14 km south of Esperanza. The refuges pay homage to Martín Miguel de Güemes, a military man who served an outstanding role in the Argentine war of independence.

General Martín Güemes I Refuge

The first refuge was located on the north east coast of the Duse Bay of the Trinity Peninsula and opened on October 23, 1953. , at that time head of the newly created Esperanza Base, participated in its construction, being one of the first refuges installed by the Army and the second in the continental Antarctica. The refuge was destroyed by the ice in 1960.

General Martín Güemes II Refuge

The second refuge is active and is located in the Tabarin Peninsula and was inaugurated on September 15, 1959. It has capacity for six people, food for a month, fuel, gas and a first aid kit.

Notes

References

(August 2017). "Antarctic Station Catalogue". [[Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs]].
"Gral. Jorge Leal: un expedicionario en la Antártida". [[President of Argentina.
"official site". [[Ejército Argentino]].
"Base Antártica Esperanza". marambio.aq.
"Registro civil "Base Esperanza"". [[Ejército Argentino]].
"Identificaciones varias de LRA36 a través del tiempo".
(17 January 2024). "La experiencia de hacer radio desde la Antártida Argentina".
INVAP. (25 May 2010). "IVS-4500 en Base Esperanza, Antártida Argentina - "Hielos míticos" (Daniel Bazan, 2008).".
[[Google Earth]] satellite images
(2014). "The International Politics of Antarctica". Routledge.
(24 May 1982). "1948 (sic) BRITISH-ARGENTINE CLASHES IN ANTARCTIC ENDED PEACEFULLY". New York Times.
[http://www.marambio.aq/appaa/GACETILLA2014.pdf 60 años de Base Esperanza] {{Webarchive. link. (2018-06-14 - Fundación Marambio)
[http://www.marambio.aq/anecdotas/espirituguemesiano.html El primer antártico es argentino] {{webarchive. link. (December 6, 2014 - Fundación Marambio)
"Base Esperanza". Servicio Meteorológico Nacional.
(2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci..
"New record for Antarctic continent reported". World Meteorological Organization.
(1 July 2021). "WMO verifies one temperature record for Antarctic continent and rejects another". World Meteorological Organization.
(2012). "List of Historic Sites and Monuments approved by the ATCM (2012)". Antarctic Treaty Secretariat.
[[:es:Refugio General Martín Güemes]]

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