Pole of inaccessibility is a now defunct Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 research station in Antarctica, located near the southern pole of inaccessibility

Pole of inaccessibility

A pole of inaccessibility marks a location that is the most challenging to reach owing to its remoteness from geographical features that could provide access...

 (82°06′S 54°58′E) — the point in Antarctica furthest from any ocean

Ocean

An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...

. (However, some sources give the location as 83°06′S 54°58′E). It performed meteorological observations from 14 December 1958 to 26 December 1958. The Pole of Inaccessibility has the world's coldest year-round average temperature of -58.2°C (-72°F).

It is located 878 km (545.6 mi) from the South Pole

South Pole

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...

, and approximately 600 km (372.8 mi) from Sovetskaya

Sovetskaya (Antarctic Research Station)

Sovetskaya was a Soviet research station in Antarctica at . The surface elevation was initially reported to be 3,570 m; however, it was later revised to 3,662 m. Reached on 16 February 1958 by the 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition for International Geophysical Year research work, it closed on 3...

. The surface elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 is 3,800 meters (12,467 feet). It was reached in 1958 by the third Soviet Antarctic Expedition

Soviet Antarctic Expedition

The Soviet Antarctic Expedition was part of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of the Soviet Committee on Antarctic Research of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR....

 led by Yevgeny Tolstikov

Yevgeny Tolstikov

Yevgeny Ivanovich Tolstikov was a Soviet polar explorer, awarded by the Hero of the Soviet Union title. He led the Third Soviet Antarctic Expedition and one of the first manned drifting ice station in the Arctic....

 for International Geophysical Year

International Geophysical Year

The International Geophysical Year was an international scientific project that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific interchange between East and West was seriously interrupted...

 research work. Its WMO ID is 89550 http://south.aari.nw.ru/data/Catalogue.html.

The station had a hut for 4 people, a radio shack, and an electrical hut. Next to the hut, an airstrip for landing was cleared and a Li-2 aircraft landed there on 18 December 1958. The outpost was equipped with a diesel power generator and a transmitter. Equipment and personnel were delivered by an Antarctic tractor convoy operated by the 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition

3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition

The Third Soviet Antarctic Expedition was led by Yevgeny Tolstikov on the continent; the marine expedition on the Ob was led by I V Maksimov....

. December 26 the outpost was suspended indefinitely, researchers were airlifted by plane.The station deemed to be too far from other research stations to allow safe permanent operation, so it was left to be used for future short-term visits only.

Today, a building still remains at this site, marked by a bust of Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...

, and is protected as an historical site. However, as of 2007, this building is almost entirely buried by snow, and only the statue (which is on top of the building) is visible. http://www.teamn2i.com

The American Queen Maud Land oversnow Traverse reached the Pole of Inaccessibility from Pole Station in the fall of 1965 and the crew were flown out from there by C130. Later in the spring of that year a new American crew arrived by C130 to make observations, refurbish the snow cats, and continue the Queen Maud Land Traverse, zig-zagging to end the summer at the newly installed Plateau Station. Team N2i reached the Pole of Inaccessibility on January 19, 2007, rediscovering Lenin.