Stations

Antarctic
Arctic

Station

Camp

Shelter

Laboratory

Station

Camp

Shelter

Laboratory

Background

Station code	CO1203
Facility Name	Kohnen
Website	http://www.awi.de/en/expedition/stations/kohnen-station.html
Location	Antarctic
Current status of facility	Open
Type	Station
Operating country	Germany
INTERACT Status	None
First opened/Opening year	2001
Operational period	Seasonal

Introduction

Facility name and Operator	Kohnen, Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI)
Location	Kohnen Station is located on the Antarctic plateau at an altitude of 2892 m. The bedrock is covered by 2782 m ice and snow.
Biodiversity and natural environment	Kohnen station is located in the interior of the Antarctica continent about 600 km away from the coast.
History and Facilities	The station was opened in 2001 as a logistics base for a deep ice core drilling program. The central building consists of a 32 m long and 8 m wide steel platform on 16 pillars with 11 20-feet container modules on top of it. The functions of these modules are radio room, mess room, kitchen, sanitary facilities, two sleeping rooms, snowmelter, store, workshop and power plant. Food store containers on sledges and additional sleeping modules can be parked beside the platform. Because of snow accumulation the platform has to be lifted up every second year. Four technicians are needed to open the station.
General research and databases	As Kohnen was the logistics base for ice core drilling, several years the focus was on the drilling. Additionally to the deep ice core drilling, different science programs took place at or near Kohnen Station, including the measurement of the local topography and ice velocity, ground-based radio-echo sounding, meteorological measurements using an automatic weather station and aerosol sampling with high- and low-volume devices. Since 2012/13, the Coldest Firn (CoFi) project uses Kohnen as its logistic base. The primary objective of this project is to understand the densification and the air enclosure process of the coldest firn.
Human dimension	The station staff is performing the station operations, maintainance, upgrades etc.
Access	Kohnen Station can be reached by snow vehicles (sledge traverse from Neumayer 3 ca 750 km) or aircraft. The sldge traverse from Neumayer III Station needs about 10 days. The fastest way via aircraft to Kohnen Station are feeder flights from the Norwegian Troll Station or the Russian Novolazarevskaya Station.

Operator

Facility operator/manager	Alfred Wegener Institute
Type of entity	Government
Institution managing/operating the facility	Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI)
Contact facility	Kohnen-Station@skyfile.com
Website (operator/manager)	http://www.awi.de/en

Data Source

Name of contact person	Dr. Eberhard Kohlberg
Email	eberhard.kohlberg@awi.de
Date of last update	0000-00-00

Partner Institution

Partnership

Location

Station code	CO1203
Geographical coordinates - Latitude	75° 0.1145' 0'' S
Geographical coordinates - Longitude	0° 3.9802' 0'' E
Region	Continental Antarctica
Antarctic Environmental Domain	N - East Antarctic inland ice sheet
Altitude of facility (m)	2
Min. altitude within study area (m)	0
Type of surface facility built on	Ice-free ground

Climate

Permafrost	None
Climate zone	Inland Antarctica
Precipitation type	Snow
Mean annual wind speed (km/h)	16.2
Dominant wind direction	N
Period of temperature measurements	01/01/1998 to 31/12/2004
Mean annual temperature (°C)	-42.2
Mean temperature in January (°C)	-26
Mean temperature in February (°C)	-32.2
Mean temperature in March (°C)	-42
Mean temperature in April (°C)	-49.4
Mean temperature in May (°C)	-50.4
Mean temperature in June (°C)	-50.4
Mean temperature in July (°C)	-52.3
Mean temperature in August (°C)	-51.3
Mean temperature in September (°C)	-51.1
Mean temperature in October (°C)	-41.6
Mean temperature in November (°C)	-33.8
Mean temperature in December (°C)	-25.6
Snow free period	None

Features

Features in the facility area

High elevation; Ice cap or glacier; Plateau

Disciplines

Main science disciplines

Atmospheric sciences; Climate studies; Geology; Geophysics and seismology; Glaciology

Human Activities

Human activity	Yes
Long term monitoring	Yes
Waste management	Yes
Hazard[ous] management	Yes
Fuel spill response capability	Yes

Infrastructure

Station code	CO1203
Area under roof (m2)	160
Scientific laboratories (m2)	0
Type of scientific laboratories	None
Conference room (capacity)	0
Logistics (m2)	160
Number of beds	8
Showers	yes
Laundry facilities	yes
Power supply (type)	Fossil fuel
Power supply (V)	220
Power supply (hours per day)	24
Hydroponics facilities	no

Staff Capacity

Number of staff on station (peak/summer season)	4
Number of scientists on station (peak/summer season)	24
Number of staff on station (off peak/winter season)	0
Number of scientists on station (off peak/winter season)	0
Max number of personnel at a time (staff, scientists and other)	28
Number of tourists (annual average)	0

Scientific Equipment

Medical Facilities

Medical facilities	No
Area of medical facility (m2)	0
Staff with relevant training	Non-medical trained person; None
Distance to hospital (km)	750
Medical research capabilities	No
Medical screening requirements	No

Vehicles

Land transportation

Skidoos, snow groomer.

Workshop facilities

Metal workshop

Communications

E-mail; Satellite phone; VHF

Access

Station code	CO1203
Access	Air; Land

Aircraft landing facilities

Number of airstrips	1
Length (m) of longest runway	2000
Width (m) of longest runway	20
Description of airstrips	Ski
Helipad	No

Transport and freight

Transport to facility	Airplane; Skidoo
Other transport	piste catapillar
No. of ship visits per year	0
No. of flight visits per year	0

Access To The Facility

Permits required for studies	Permission from the Federal Environmental Agency, Application to Scientific Advisory Board (AWI)
Contact person	Olaf.Eisen@awi.de
Email contact	Olaf.Eisen@awi.de

Pictures

Kohnen drilltrench AWI

Kohnen drilltrench AWI

Kohnen station AWI