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Development of a Remote Station Architecture 5. THE INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR (IGY) 1957-58 In 1947 members of the U.S. Navy’s Operation High Jump cruised into McMurdo Bay from Little America to conduct surveys for an alternate air field. They landed at Hut Point to find Scott’s hut just as Shackleton’s party had left it thirty years before. Eight years later in 1955, Operation Deep Freeze-1 established a base at Hut Point consisting of ten-man and thirty-two-man tents. By 1956 thirty temporary buildings had been erected and ninety three men wintered over. The base was officially names Willis Air Operating Field at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Deep Freeze-1 prepared the area for the use of scientists taking part in The First International Geophysical Year (IGY), an integrated scientific investigation of the planet Earth by 60 nations from 1957 to 1958. The U.S. scientific effort was administered by the National Academy of Sciences, while logistics support was provided entirely by the Department of Defense. At the close of the IGY, The National Science Foundation (NSF) was given the task of administering all Antarctic scientific activity. The base was renamed McMurdo Station in 1961. In 1970 The NSF took over the Navy’s role of logistics support and became the sole administrative agency in charge of all U.S. efforts on the continent. Proceed to next section: 6. The United States Antarctic Research Program Table of Contents Return to Publications
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