Arrival Heights Laboratory



Arrival Heights Laboratory is a research station in the Antarctic Specially Protected Area of Arrival Heights in Antarctica, around 2 km from McMurdo Station.

It was built in 1959 as an Auroral Radar Station to understand the nature of the aurora australis and its effect on radio communications. It now consists of two atmospheric research laboratories owned and operated by Antarctica New Zealand and the United States Antarctic Program. In 2007 Antarctica New Zealand constructed a purpose-built atmospheric research laboratory, including upper atmosphere, trace gas monitoring, geomagnetic studies, and air quality surveys, most of which are conducted by NIWA.

It houses both New Zealand and United States instrumentation, including a Dobson ozone spectrophotometer. The remote location makes the station particularly suitable for the use of instruments sensitive to local and external noise and electromagnetic interference.