Troll (research station)
Encyclopedia
Troll is a research station
located at Jutulsessen
, 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast
in Queen Maud Land
, Antarctica. It is Norway
's only all-year research station in Antarctica, and is supplemented by the summer-only station Tor
. Troll is operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute
and also features facilities for the Norwegian Meteorological Institute
, the Norwegian Institute for Air Research and a satellite downloading dome run by Kongsberg Satellite Services
.
Contrary to most other research stations on the continent, Troll is constructed on the snow-free slope of solid rock breaking through the ice sheet at Jutulsessen, located 1275 metres (4,183.1 ft) above mean sea level
. The station opened as a summer-only station in 1990 and was taken into use as an all-year station in 2005. It has an overwintering capacity of eight people and a summer capacity of 40. It is served by Troll Airfield
, which is the base for the Dronning Maud Land Air Network.
. The station is located on the nunatak
bare ground area Jutulsessen, at 1270 metres (4,166.7 ft) above mean sea level. It is completely surrounded by the Antarctic ice sheet. This is unlike most other Antarctic research stations, which are located on snow. Troll is 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast.
The station facilities are owned by the Government of Norway through the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property. Operation of the facility is done by another government agency, the Norwegian Polar Institute. The facilities consist of a module-built new section that is 300 square metres (358.8 sq yd), and the old section that is 100 square metres (119.6 sq yd). The new section consists of eight bedrooms, a gym, a sauna
, a kitchen, a communication center and office space. In addition, there are several smaller buildings which are used as laboratories, provision stores, generators and garages. The old station is used partially for storage and partially as a summer station. The facility also features an emergency facility for eight people, located at a safe distance from the main base, in case of fire or other accidents. The station is dimensioned to tolerate temperatures down to -60 C and wind speeds of 60 m/s.
The facility attempts to minimize its environmental impact through several mechanisms, including minimizing area usage. Energy consumption is reduced by using recirculating excess heat to melt snow and ice for drinking water and heating. Waste is minimized through purchase planning and recycling; the remaining waste is compressed and transported away from the Antarctic. Fuel is handled in such a way that even small spills are minimized.
The station has a cold and dry climate, being located in a desert
. The annual mean temperature is -25 C, with the summer temperature able to reach about 0 °C (32 °F) and the lowest during the winter at -50 C. Storms, which can occur throughout the year, can occasionally make outdoor activity impossible. Being located south of the Antarctic Circle
, Troll has midnight sun
in the summer and polar night
during the winter.
, Svalbard
, Norway. This allows the institute to collect such data from both polar regions. In particular, the facility measures aerosol
s, organic and inorganic pollution, ozone
and ultraviolet
(UV) radiation. NILU also creates air samples annually to generate data for trend analysis
. The weekly air pollution measurements are compared to equivalent measurements at Zeppelin. Ground measurements are taken of ozone and mercury
, two of the greatest pollution threats in the polar regions. Stratosphere
measurements are conducted to measure ozone and UV levels, in particular to gain additional information about ozone depletion
and the Antarctic ozone hole.
Kongsberg Satellite Services
, a joint venture between Kongsberg Group and the Norwegian Space Center, operates TrollSat, a satellite
ground station which allows downloading of data. In conjunction with SvalSat, located in Longyearbyen
, Svalbard, TrollSat targets satellites in a polar orbit
. TrollSat consists of a single radome
with an 7.3 metres (24 ft) low Earth orbit
antenna capable of S band
and X band
reception. To relay the information, TrollSat has a 4.8 metres (15.7 ft) and a 7.6 metres (24.9 ft) C band
uplink to provide broadband
connection to Europe and North America. TrollSat will be one of 30 ground stations for the European satellite navigation system Galileo, and is Norway's main contribution to the project.
The Norwegian Meteorological Institute
operates a manned weather station
at Troll. It measures air pressure, temperature, humidity and wind, both at the station itself and at the airfield.
interests in the Antarctic. From 1956, Norway operated the research station Norway Station, but this was given to South Africa in 1959. From the 1960s through the 1980s, Norway's research activities in Antarctica were sporadic and without a fixed base. This gave the advantage that the research was not bound geographically, but it weakened the Norwegian claim for Queen Maud Land and the right to participate as a consultative member of the Antarctic Treaty. In 1989, any party to the Treaty could ask for it to be renegotiated, and Norwegian authorities saw the need for a permanent base to strengthen Norway's claim to Queen Maud Land.
The Norwegian Polar Institute decided to establish a summer station. This was built during the summer of 1989 and 1990, resulting in a 100 square metres (119.6 sq yd) building with room for eight people. Construction required 300 tonnes (295.3 LT) of materials to be hauled from the coast and the station was officially opened on 17 February 1990. The station took its name from the surrounding jagged mountains, which resemble troll
s of Norse mythology
. The first overwintering occurred in 2000, when a South Pole expedition used the camp as a base.
To ease logistics, Norway took the initiative to establish Dronning Maud Land Air Network (DROMLAN), a cooperation between the countries with bases in Queen Maud Land to streamline transport costs. Having an airfield at Troll allows quicker transport to the research stations in western Queen Maud Land, which are located further away from the incumbent airfields at Henriksenskjera and Novolazarevskaya. The first flight that was a preliminary to DROMLAN was made in 2000 from Cape Town
, South Africa, to Henriksenskjera, where a Twin Otter was used onwards to Troll.
In 2003, it was decided that Norway was to extend its operations in Antarctica by establishing an all-year research station. By then, Norway was the only country with a territorial claim to Antarctica to not have an all-year research station on the continent. The government stated that the investment was motivated to improve climate research, to strengthen Norway as a bi-polar research nation and to strengthen Norway's role as a premise-maker in the environmental policy of the Antarctic.
Construction of the expansion was done from December 2004 through February 2005 by the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property, who contracted the job to AF Gruppen
. About 700 tonnes (688.9 LT) of equipment was hauled to the base from the ice shelf. The base was prefabricated and only required the modules to be connected at site. New infrastructure included a new generator, emergency station, garage, provision stores, container ramps for equipment and fuel, and more laboratories. At the same time, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute established a meteorological station at Troll.
The construction of the runway itself required the filling of crevasse
s and the removal of stones. Troll Airfield was opened on 11 February 2005 by Queen Sonja of Norway
and the new research station the following day. After the opening, another power station was built in 2005. In 2006, a satellite base station was built by Kongsberg Satellite Services. This resulted in the need for a broadband
connection for the base. During the winter season of 2006, there was no overwintering due to lack of funding, but from 2007 this has been re-instated. In 2008, a windmill
was taken into use to provide some of the power.
Norwegian Prime Minister
Jens Stoltenberg
(Labour
) visited Troll in January 2008, when he among other things opened TrollSat. At the same time, as part of the International Polar Year
, a Norwegian – United States expedition traveled from Troll to the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station and back. On 23 February 2009, Norwegian Minister of the Environment
Erik Solheim
(Socialist Left
) hosted a meeting for environment ministers from 15 countries to discuss climate change and learn about recent research in the field.
Research station
A research station is a station built for the purpose of conducting scientific research. Research station sites might include outer space and oceans. Many nations have research stations in Antarctica; Showa Station, Halley and Troll are examples...
located at Jutulsessen
Jutulsessen
Jutulsessen is a nunatak in Gjelsvik Mountains, Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, about from the coast. The Norwegian Polar Institute operates the research station Troll and Troll Airfield there....
, 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast
Princess Martha Coast
Princess Martha Coast is that portion of the coast of Queen Maud Land lying between 05° E and the terminus of Stancomb-Wills Glacier, at 20° W. The entire coastline is bounded by ice shelves with ice cliffs 20 to 35 m high....
in Queen Maud Land
Queen Maud Land
Queen Maud Land is a c. 2.7 million-square-kilometre region of Antarctica claimed as a dependent territory by Norway. The territory lies between 20° west and 45° east, between the British Antarctic Territory to the west and the Australian Antarctic Territory to the east. The latitudinal...
, Antarctica. It is Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's only all-year research station in Antarctica, and is supplemented by the summer-only station Tor
Tor (research station)
Tor research station is a Norwegian Antarctic research station in Queen Maud Land, in the easternmost part of Princess Martha Coast at Svarthamaren Mountain, established in 1993. It is located 1625 metres above sea level, about 200 km from the coast. It is smaller than the other Norwegian...
. Troll is operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute
Norwegian Polar Institute
The Norwegian Polar Institute is Norway's national institution for polar research. It is run under the auspices of the Norwegian Ministry of Environment. The institute organizes expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions and runs a research station at Ny-Ålesund...
and also features facilities for the Norwegian Meteorological Institute
Norwegian Meteorological Institute
Norwegian Meteorological Institute is the Norwegian national institute for weather forecasts.The three main offices are located in Oslo, Bergen and Tromsø. The Institute has around 500 employees and keeps around 650 paid observers of various kinds around the country...
, the Norwegian Institute for Air Research and a satellite downloading dome run by Kongsberg Satellite Services
Kongsberg Satellite Services
Kongsberg Satellite Services is a company of Kongsberg Gruppen in Norway. The company is an operator of satellite ground stations....
.
Contrary to most other research stations on the continent, Troll is constructed on the snow-free slope of solid rock breaking through the ice sheet at Jutulsessen, located 1275 metres (4,183.1 ft) above mean sea level
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
. The station opened as a summer-only station in 1990 and was taken into use as an all-year station in 2005. It has an overwintering capacity of eight people and a summer capacity of 40. It is served by Troll Airfield
Troll airfield
Troll Airfield is an airstrip located from the research station Troll in Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. Owned and operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute, it consists of a runway on glacial blue ice on the Antarctic ice sheet...
, which is the base for the Dronning Maud Land Air Network.
Facilities
Troll is located in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, which Norway claims as a dependent territoryDependent territory
A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State, and remains politically outside of the controlling state's integral area....
. The station is located on the nunatak
Nunatak
A nunatak is an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within an ice field or glacier. The term is typically used in areas where a permanent ice sheet is present...
bare ground area Jutulsessen, at 1270 metres (4,166.7 ft) above mean sea level. It is completely surrounded by the Antarctic ice sheet. This is unlike most other Antarctic research stations, which are located on snow. Troll is 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast.
The station facilities are owned by the Government of Norway through the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property. Operation of the facility is done by another government agency, the Norwegian Polar Institute. The facilities consist of a module-built new section that is 300 square metres (358.8 sq yd), and the old section that is 100 square metres (119.6 sq yd). The new section consists of eight bedrooms, a gym, a sauna
Sauna
A sauna is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities....
, a kitchen, a communication center and office space. In addition, there are several smaller buildings which are used as laboratories, provision stores, generators and garages. The old station is used partially for storage and partially as a summer station. The facility also features an emergency facility for eight people, located at a safe distance from the main base, in case of fire or other accidents. The station is dimensioned to tolerate temperatures down to -60 C and wind speeds of 60 m/s.
The facility attempts to minimize its environmental impact through several mechanisms, including minimizing area usage. Energy consumption is reduced by using recirculating excess heat to melt snow and ice for drinking water and heating. Waste is minimized through purchase planning and recycling; the remaining waste is compressed and transported away from the Antarctic. Fuel is handled in such a way that even small spills are minimized.
The station has a cold and dry climate, being located in a desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
. The annual mean temperature is -25 C, with the summer temperature able to reach about 0 °C (32 °F) and the lowest during the winter at -50 C. Storms, which can occur throughout the year, can occasionally make outdoor activity impossible. Being located south of the Antarctic Circle
Antarctic Circle
The Antarctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs south of the Equator.-Description:...
, Troll has midnight sun
Midnight sun
The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in summer months at latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle, and south and nearby to the north of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather, the sun is visible for a continuous...
in the summer and polar night
Polar night
The polar night occurs when the night lasts for more than 24 hours. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midnight sun, occurs when the sun stays above the horizon for more than 24 hours.-Description:...
during the winter.
Research
The Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) maintains air and atmospheric measurement equipment at Troll. Combined with a similar measureing station, Zeppelin in Ny-ÅlesundNy-Ålesund
Ny-Ålesund is one of the four permanent settlements on the island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago. It is located on the Brøgger peninsula at Kongsfjorden...
, Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
, Norway. This allows the institute to collect such data from both polar regions. In particular, the facility measures aerosol
Aerosol
Technically, an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas. Examples are clouds, and air pollution such as smog and smoke. In general conversation, aerosol usually refers to an aerosol spray can or the output of such a can...
s, organic and inorganic pollution, ozone
Ozone
Ozone , or trioxygen, is a triatomic molecule, consisting of three oxygen atoms. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope...
and ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
(UV) radiation. NILU also creates air samples annually to generate data for trend analysis
Trend analysis
Trend Analysis is the practice of collecting information and attempting to spot a pattern, or trend, in the information. In some fields of study, the term "trend analysis" has more formally-defined meanings....
. The weekly air pollution measurements are compared to equivalent measurements at Zeppelin. Ground measurements are taken of ozone and mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
, two of the greatest pollution threats in the polar regions. Stratosphere
Stratosphere
The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere near the Earth's surface, which is cooler...
measurements are conducted to measure ozone and UV levels, in particular to gain additional information about ozone depletion
Ozone depletion
Ozone depletion describes two distinct but related phenomena observed since the late 1970s: a steady decline of about 4% per decade in the total volume of ozone in Earth's stratosphere , and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone over Earth's polar regions. The latter phenomenon...
and the Antarctic ozone hole.
Kongsberg Satellite Services
Kongsberg Satellite Services
Kongsberg Satellite Services is a company of Kongsberg Gruppen in Norway. The company is an operator of satellite ground stations....
, a joint venture between Kongsberg Group and the Norwegian Space Center, operates TrollSat, a satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
ground station which allows downloading of data. In conjunction with SvalSat, located in Longyearbyen
Longyearbyen
Longyearbyen is the largest settlement and the administrative centre of Svalbard, Norway. It is located on the western coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago, on the southern side on Adventfjorden , which continues inland with Adventdalen...
, Svalbard, TrollSat targets satellites in a polar orbit
Polar orbit
A polar orbit is an orbit in which a satellite passes above or nearly above both poles of the body being orbited on each revolution. It therefore has an inclination of 90 degrees to the equator...
. TrollSat consists of a single radome
Radome
A radome is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a microwave or radar antenna. The radome is constructed of material that minimally attenuates the electromagnetic signal transmitted or received by the antenna. In other words, the radome is transparent to radar or radio waves...
with an 7.3 metres (24 ft) low Earth orbit
Low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...
antenna capable of S band
S band
The S band is defined by an IEEE standard for radio waves with frequencies that range from 2 to 4 GHz, crossing the conventional boundary between UHF and SHF at 3.0 GHz. It is part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum...
and X band
X band
The X band is a segment of the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of X band is rather indefinitely set at approximately 7.0 to 11.2 gigahertz . In radar engineering, the frequency range is specified...
reception. To relay the information, TrollSat has a 4.8 metres (15.7 ft) and a 7.6 metres (24.9 ft) C band
C band
The C band is a name given to certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including wavelengths of microwaves that are used for long-distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C-band - and its slight variations - contains frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications...
uplink to provide broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
connection to Europe and North America. TrollSat will be one of 30 ground stations for the European satellite navigation system Galileo, and is Norway's main contribution to the project.
The Norwegian Meteorological Institute
Norwegian Meteorological Institute
Norwegian Meteorological Institute is the Norwegian national institute for weather forecasts.The three main offices are located in Oslo, Bergen and Tromsø. The Institute has around 500 employees and keeps around 650 paid observers of various kinds around the country...
operates a manned weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
at Troll. It measures air pressure, temperature, humidity and wind, both at the station itself and at the airfield.
History
During the 1980s, it became increasingly important for the Government of Norway to have a permanent base in Queen Maud Land. The area had been annexed as a dependency on 14 January 1939, at the time mainly based on Norwegian whalingWhaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
interests in the Antarctic. From 1956, Norway operated the research station Norway Station, but this was given to South Africa in 1959. From the 1960s through the 1980s, Norway's research activities in Antarctica were sporadic and without a fixed base. This gave the advantage that the research was not bound geographically, but it weakened the Norwegian claim for Queen Maud Land and the right to participate as a consultative member of the Antarctic Treaty. In 1989, any party to the Treaty could ask for it to be renegotiated, and Norwegian authorities saw the need for a permanent base to strengthen Norway's claim to Queen Maud Land.
The Norwegian Polar Institute decided to establish a summer station. This was built during the summer of 1989 and 1990, resulting in a 100 square metres (119.6 sq yd) building with room for eight people. Construction required 300 tonnes (295.3 LT) of materials to be hauled from the coast and the station was officially opened on 17 February 1990. The station took its name from the surrounding jagged mountains, which resemble troll
Troll
A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...
s of Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
. The first overwintering occurred in 2000, when a South Pole expedition used the camp as a base.
To ease logistics, Norway took the initiative to establish Dronning Maud Land Air Network (DROMLAN), a cooperation between the countries with bases in Queen Maud Land to streamline transport costs. Having an airfield at Troll allows quicker transport to the research stations in western Queen Maud Land, which are located further away from the incumbent airfields at Henriksenskjera and Novolazarevskaya. The first flight that was a preliminary to DROMLAN was made in 2000 from Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa, to Henriksenskjera, where a Twin Otter was used onwards to Troll.
In 2003, it was decided that Norway was to extend its operations in Antarctica by establishing an all-year research station. By then, Norway was the only country with a territorial claim to Antarctica to not have an all-year research station on the continent. The government stated that the investment was motivated to improve climate research, to strengthen Norway as a bi-polar research nation and to strengthen Norway's role as a premise-maker in the environmental policy of the Antarctic.
Construction of the expansion was done from December 2004 through February 2005 by the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property, who contracted the job to AF Gruppen
AF Gruppen
The AF Group ASA is the third largest civil engineering and construction company in Norway. The company headquarters is located in Oslo. The AF Group is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.-Property:...
. About 700 tonnes (688.9 LT) of equipment was hauled to the base from the ice shelf. The base was prefabricated and only required the modules to be connected at site. New infrastructure included a new generator, emergency station, garage, provision stores, container ramps for equipment and fuel, and more laboratories. At the same time, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute established a meteorological station at Troll.
The construction of the runway itself required the filling of crevasse
Crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet rhys glacier . Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement...
s and the removal of stones. Troll Airfield was opened on 11 February 2005 by Queen Sonja of Norway
Queen Sonja of Norway
Queen Sonja of Norway is the wife of King Harald V of Norway.-Prior to marriage:Sonja was born in Oslo on 4 July 1937 as the daughter of clothing merchant Karl August Haraldsen and Dagny Ulrichsen .Queen Sonja grew up in the district of Vinderen in Oslo and completed her lower secondary schooling...
and the new research station the following day. After the opening, another power station was built in 2005. In 2006, a satellite base station was built by Kongsberg Satellite Services. This resulted in the need for a broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
connection for the base. During the winter season of 2006, there was no overwintering due to lack of funding, but from 2007 this has been re-instated. In 2008, a windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
was taken into use to provide some of the power.
Norwegian Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Norway
The Prime Minister of Norway is the political leader of Norway and the Head of His Majesty's Government. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Stortinget , to their political party, and ultimately the...
Jens Stoltenberg
Jens Stoltenberg
is a Norwegian politician, leader of the Norwegian Labour Party and the current Prime Minister of Norway. Having assumed office on 17 October 2005, Stoltenberg previously served as Prime Minister from 2000 to 2001....
(Labour
Norwegian Labour Party
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....
) visited Troll in January 2008, when he among other things opened TrollSat. At the same time, as part of the International Polar Year
International Polar Year
The International Polar Year is a collaborative, international effort researching the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor, but died before it first occurred in 1882-1883. Fifty years later a second IPY occurred...
, a Norwegian – United States expedition traveled from Troll to the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station and back. On 23 February 2009, Norwegian Minister of the Environment
Minister of the Environment (Norway)
The Norwegian Minister of the Environment is the head of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of the Environment. The Ministry was established in 1972....
Erik Solheim
Erik Solheim
Erik Solheim is a Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party . He holds two posts in the current Norwegian cabinet, and carries the title Minister of the Environment and Minister of Development Cooperation...
(Socialist Left
Socialist Left Party (Norway)
The Socialist Left Party or SV, is a Norwegian left-wing political party. At one point one of the smallest parties in Parliament, it became the fourth-largest political party in Norway for the first time in the 2001 parliamentary election, and has been so ever since...
) hosted a meeting for environment ministers from 15 countries to discuss climate change and learn about recent research in the field.
External links
- Official website Norwegian Polar Institute Troll-stasjonen in Dronning Maud Land
- [ftp://ftp.npolar.no/Out/TrollWebCam/TrollPublic.jpg Troll Research Station webcam]
- COMNAP Antarctic Facilities
- COMNAP Antarctic Facilities Map