Antarctic Station

The Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences manages the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station on King George Island in the West Antarctic. The Station was established in 1977 and has been operating continuously since then. Its patron, Henryk Arctowski, a remarkable Polish geophysicist and geographer, was one of the first Poles who reached the Antarctic at the end of the 19th century.

At the Polish Antarctic Station research has been carried out in the fields of: oceanography, geology, geomorphology, glaciology, meteorology, seismology, biology and ecology, and monitoring programmes have been conducted: ecological, glaciological, hydrological, meteorological and marine.

From the very beginning, the Station has provided technical and logistical support for Polish and international research groups doing research in the Antarctic, as an informal embassy of our country (at the moment it is the only working Polish research station in this region of the world). In recent years, scientists from 15 Polish and foreign research institutions have used the station’s infrastructure every year.

Thanks to a subvention received from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the infrastructure entitled ‘ARCTOWSKI – PolarPOL – Polish Multidisciplinary Laboratory for Polar Research in the Antarctic’ is undergoing comprehensive modernisation. The construction of a new main building is planned, as well as the revitalisation of the existing technical infrastructure of the energy and fuel system, and the water supply network. The work is scheduled for completion in 2027.