Neumayer-Station III

Neumayer Station III is located about 20 km inland of the ice edge on the Ekström Ice Shelf. The Ekström Ice Shelf is a part of Dronning Maud Land in the Atlantic Sector of Antarctica. In contrast to the previous stations, Neumayer Station III was built about 7 m above the snow surface.

Neumayer Station III follows the Georg-von-Neumayer station (1981–1992) and Neumayer Station II (1992–2009) on the Ekström Ice Shelf. It is the first of these three stations to be built about 7 m above the surface. Neumayer Station III integrates research, operational and accommodation facilities in one building. On the roof of Neumayer Station III, a balloon launching hall was built to launch radiosondes. A short distance from the station (1.5 km) an air chemistry (trace gases) and a geophysics observatory are located. Together with the meteorology, they comprise the long-term observatories of Neumayer Station III and the previous station.

The coastal environment favours the biodiversity in the vicinity of Neumayer Station III. Emperor penguin colony, Adélie penguins as well as Weddell seals, Skuas and other birds are present. The Ekström Ice Shelf is surrounded by two ice covered ridges and the ice shelf forms a bay (Atka Bay). The ice shelf is about 200 m thick at its front and has a velocity of 250 m/yr.

The station staff is performing the station operations, maintainance, upgrades etc.

Due to the closeness to the coast, Neumayer III Station can be reached by ship and aircraft. Most ships leave from Cape Town and it takes about 10 days to reach the ice shelf edge. Additionally, Neumayer III Station can be reached using feeder flights from the Norwegian Troll Station or the Russian Novolazarevskaya Station. Germany is part of the Dronning Maud Land Air Network (DROMLAN).