Camp Academia | |
|---|---|
 Camp Academia under snow | |
  Camp Academia Location of Camp Academia inAntarctica | |
| Coordinates:62°38′42″S60°10′18″W / 62.644972°S 60.17175°W /-62.644972; -60.17175 | |
| Country |  Bulgaria |
| Location in Antarctica | Livingston Island South Shetland Islands Antarctica |
| Administered by | Bulgarian Academy of Sciences |
| Established | 3 December 2004 (2004-12-03) |
| Type | Seasonal |
| Period | Summer |
| Status | Operational |
| Bulgaria in Antarctica |
|---|
Camp Academia (Bulgarian:лагер Академия,romanized: lager Akademiya,IPA:[ˈɫaɡɛrɐkɐˈdɛmijɐ]) is a geographical locality in easternLivingston Island,South Shetland Islands,Antarctica, named for theBulgarian Academy of Sciences in appreciation of the Academy’s contribution to Antarctic exploration. The site was first occupied in the 2004/05 austral summer, and has been designated since 2004 as the summerpost office Tangra 1091, the southernmost branch of the Bulgarian Posts Plc.
Camp Academia is strategically situated in upperHuron Glacier,Wörner Gap area, at elevation 541 m in the northwestern foothills ofZograf Peak, centralTangra Mountains. The site is accessible by 11-12.5 km routes from the Bulgarian baseSt. Kliment Ohridski and the Spanish baseJuan Carlos I respectively.
Camp Academia offers convenient overland access to the main range ofTangra Mountains to the south (with survey and climbing routes leading from Camp Academia toLyaskovets Peak andMount Friesland viaCatalunyan Saddle, and toLevski Peak,Great Needle Peak andHelmet Peak areas viaLozen Saddle); toBowles Ridge,Vidin Heights,Kaliakra Glacier andSaedinenie Snowfield areas to the north; toHuron Glacier to the east; and toPliska Ridge,Burdick Ridge,Perunika Glacier andHuntress Glacier to the west.
Camp Academia hosted the base camp of the Bulgarian topographic surveyTangra 2004/05 from 3 December 2004 until 2 January 2005. The survey was both shipborne from the shipsVanguardia andAkademik Vavilov, and onshore at Livingston Island andHalf Moon Island, and was carried out from 25 November 2004 until 11 January 2005 by the two-member team ofLyubomir Ivanov andDoychin Vasilev who covered either on ski or on foot an overall distance of some 200 km, mostly in harsh weather conditions and challenging unfamiliar terrain in Tangra Mountains, Bowles Ridge, Vidin Heights and the glaciers Huron, Kaliakra and Perunika.
First ascents were made of the peaks ofLyaskovets (1473 m),Ongal (1149 m),Zograf (1011 m),Komini (774 m),Melnik (696 m),Miziya (604 m), and several lesser peaks, as well as the third ascent of the summit Mount Friesland (1700 m). Extensive geodetic and geographic information was gathered, including coordinates and elevation data, actual sea shoreline and ice-free zones configuration, as well as a detailed photographic documentation of previously unexplored and remote areas in the interior ofLivingston Island andGreenwich Island.
Based on the survey, some 150 geographical features were mapped for the first time and a new 1:100000topographic map of the two islands was published in 2005. Data from the topographic survey Tangra 2004/05 was used also in the 2008 Bulgarian map of Livingston, Greenwich,Robert,Snow, andSmith Islands.
Field work carried out from Camp Academia during the Tangra 2004/05 survey has been noted byDiscovery Channel, theNatural History Museum, theRoyal Collection and theBritish Antarctic Survey as a timeline event in Antarctic exploration.[1][2][3]
Camp Academia hosted the base camps for the first ascent ofGreat Needle Peak (1,679.5 m or 5,510 ft) by the Bulgarians Doychin Boyanov, Nikolay Petkov and Aleksander Shopov on 8 January 2015,[4] and the first ascent ofSt. Boris Peak by Boyanov and Petkov on 22 December 2016.[5]
The post officeAntarctica Tangra 1091 ofBulgarian Posts Plc operated during the entire duration of the expedition Tangra 2004/05 in Antarctica from 25 November 2004 until 11 January 2005, in Camp Academia from 3 December 2004 until 2 January 2005. The office was given the postcode 1091, and was run by Postmaster Lyubomir Ivanov in compliance with standard Bulgarian postal regulations and procedures.
Themailing address of the office was: Camp Academia; 1091 Tangra; Livingston Island; Antarctica. The mail (i.e. itspostage stamps) wascancelled by a standard circular Bulgarian handstamping cancellationseal (metal issue) with an inscription“POSTE BULGARE ANTARKTIKA TANGRA 1091” on its periphery and date/hour counter in the centre. Other occasional cachets applied on Tangra 1091 mail often included the triangular cachet of Camp Academia with an inscription “ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION TANGRA 2004 CAMP ACADEMIA” and/or other personal,station andshippostmarks.
A total of 517 outgoing mail consignments (letters andpostcards) were shipped, 364 of them viaSofia, 150 viaPunta Arenas, and 3 via theSt. Kliment Ohridski post office. These were distributed geographically between 30 country destinations as follows: Bulgaria – 146, Germany – 144, Belgium – 54, Chile – 50, Britain – 18, U.S.A. – 15, Spain – 13, New Zealand – 11, France – 9, Argentina – 7, Australia – 7, Austria – 7, Switzerland – 7, Falkland Islands – 5, Antarctica (Livingston Island) – 3, Afghanistan – 2, Czech Republic – 2, Italy – 2, Japan – 2, Portugal – 2, Uruguay – 2, Denmark – 1, Greece – 1, Indonesia – 1, Iraq – 1, Montserrat – 1, Slovakia – 1, Slovenia – 1, South Africa – 1, Vanuatu – 1.[6]
Camp Academia is situated at62°38′41.9″S60°10′18.3″W / 62.644972°S 60.171750°W /-62.644972; -60.171750, which is 3.6 km east ofOrpheus Gate, 5.25 km east-southeast ofRezen Saddle, 3.2 km south-southeast ofOmurtag Pass, 4 km southwest ofPirdop Gate, 1.68 km west ofLozen Saddle, 7.1 km west ofKarnobat Pass, and 2.68 km north-northwest ofCatalunyan Saddle.
This article includes information from theAntarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria which is used with permission.
