Criosfera 1

The Criosfera 1 is a Brazilian standalone research module for atmospheric data collection, prepared at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) for the Brazilian Antarctic Program (PROANTAR).

Location
Inaugurated on 12 January 2012, the module is located on the plateau of the western Antarctica ice sheet, at 84°00' S–79°30' W, 420 km from the Union Glacier, 670 km from the geographical South Pole, and 2500 km south of the Comandante Ferraz Brazilian Antarctic Base.

Expedition Criosfera 1
The expedition for the placement of the module was coordinated by Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) through Professor Jefferson Cardia Simões, director of the Centro Polar e Climático (CPC). The Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), was then represented by Professor Dr. Heitor Evangelista, responsible for the coordination of the project.

Measuring 6.3 m long, 2.6 m wide, 2.5 m high, and comprising a weight of 3500 kg, it was planned at 1.5 m above the ground to avoid snow accumulation, allowing so the passage of the winds. Among the scientific tasks developed by the staff are ice drilling, assembly and activation of the module, and the surveying of ice morphology and dynamics at the glacier.

Objective
The first Brazilian fully automatic data-collecting scientific module placed inside the Antarctic continent is intended for data collection concerning the analysis on reflexes of the pollutants generated in South America and in Antarctica. Data will be sent via satellite directly to the computers of the national institute (INPE).