ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH BY THE SOVIETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-01009A001500120001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 42
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 6, 1999
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 2, 1955
• Content Type: IR

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?~ Copy No.
GEOGRAPHIC INTELLIGENCE REPORT
CIA/RR GR-131
2 November 1955
DOCUMENT NO.
~'risYVE ; 372044
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
cJo
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND REPORTS C,OS ze
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WARNING
This material contains information affecting
the National Defense of the United States
within the meaning of the espionage laws,
Title 18, USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the trans-
mission or revelation of which in any manner
to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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eONF1pENt1A
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F!,rword o...... .... o a n o o u o 0 0 ? o o a
I. Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A. Soviet Pre-IGY Interest in Antarctica . . . . . . . . 2
B. The International Geophysical. Year .
'C. Development of Soviet Participation in the IGY . . . 8
IZ. Possible Current Political Overtones in Scientific Aco i"i-
ties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13
11I. Operational Plans . ? . . . . o . . . . o o . o o . 15
A. Organizati,,n and ?iethodology . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
C. Logistics
D. Operations' Er uip:r:ent
17
F. Radio Commainicatic,ns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
A. The Organs-.ation of the Soviet National Committee
and Work:.ng Grot'ps for the International Geo-
physical Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
B~ List of An';arctic Radio Stations Operating During
the IGY fsnd Their Characteristics . . o . . . . .
33
C. Provision:. List of Radio Stations in the Antarctic
Daring tt,e IGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
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the Russian discoveries was underscored. As fax' back as 1931 the,
Society had shown occasional interest in reporting on the various
Antarctic activities of other countries, but postwar articles on
Antarctica first began to appear in 1946 with the publication of
articles on Soviet whaling activities. These articles inevitably
related, the current successes to the earlier accomplishments of the
Bellingshausen Expedition. Following the United States expedition of
1947>1;8, Soviet writings increased considerably in volume and generally
expressed concern about (1) the military character of US expeditions,
(2) the meagerness of their scientific activity, and (3) the comments
r to in US sources concerning the strategic importance of Antarctica.
The Society's propaganda and publication activities reached a peak. in
1919 with a coae-~aoration of the 130th anniversary of Belli.ngshausen's
expedition and th=t adoption by the Geographical Society of a resolution
outlining the basis of the Soviet Union's claim to a voice in the
settlement of querstions of Antarctic sovereignty.
The USSR has despatched a 16-vessel Antarctic whaling expedition --
the Siva -- each operating season since 1916, following the Soviet
adherence to the :nternational Whaling Convention. Economic gains are
claimed by the Soviets to be substantial., and some political use hers
already been made of the importance of the regularly conducted whaling
expeditions throe?,h reference to it in the Soviet note of 1950. The
Soviets also claim that the scientific benefits from the work of the
expeditions are st?batantial in vier of the general paucity of
meteorological, geographic, geological, biological, oceanographic,
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ionospaeri.c; and other geophysical data on the Antarctic area, The
collection of scarce scientific data was begun with the first whaling
e ;cedAtion of 1946-47. Re inning with the second expedition of 1947-4$,
the whaling expeditions have included the ship Slava-15 in each
flotilla as a special scientific-research vessel. A hydrographic-,
oceanographic report of the second expedition was presented at a 2-day
scientific meeting of the State Oceanographic Institute (Gosudarstvennyy
Okeano raficheekt,y Institut -- GOl) in November 1948. The third, or
"Stalin Expedition," is described as having "enriched Soviet science
with new data on weather, the ice regime, and about the biology of
the marine life." The fourth expedition of 1949-50, with oceanographers
and hydreobiologists aboard, continued adding new information to the
Soviet fund of Antarctic data. The ninth expedition of 1954-55 still
bad the Slava-15 attached to it as a special scientific-research vessel,
its first officer being the Young Communist League member Vladimir
Timchenko. Radio contact was established between the Soviet Arctic
drift station NP-3 and the Slava fleet during this seas.:, and Soviet
propaganda publictzed the fact "that the Slava fleet visits places where
ex.pioratione were carried out 135 years ago by the Russian expedition ...?"
According to receat Soviet announcements, a special chart of the
Antarctic region gas been compiled., utilizing data "of all expeditions
up to 1954-:* It Le believed that much of the data was obtained from
soviet whaling expeditions. The explicit plans made for utilizing future
observations of the wha? i.ngr expeditions during the IGY leave no doubt of the
vaiue of the data-collection activities in Antarctic waters during the past
9 seasons. The Antarctic data, combined with the vast Arctic experience
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have been of-inestImable value in improving Soviet capabilities for
undertaking their IGY and exploration programs in Antarctica.
B. The International Geophysical Year
The International Geophysical Year is a worldwide program of special
observations of various earth-science phenomena to be undertaken in
1957-58. It is a successor to two earlier and far legs extensive
international geophysical observation programs, the First International
Polar Year conducted in 1882-83, and the Second International Polaar
Year in 1932-33. In concept the IGY differs from the previous two
programs primarily in its plan for worldwide synoptic observation and
analysis. The IGY program was first recommended in 1954 by the Mixed
Commission on Ionosphere to its sponsoring unions, who in turn made the
recommendation to the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU).
The period 1957-58 was selected to coincide approximately with a sun-
spot maximum of the solar cycle and the 25th anniversary of the Second
International Polar Year.
The ICSU appointed a Special Committee for the International
Geophysical Year (Comite Special de l'Anne Geopbysique :Internationale --
CSAGI) with responsibility for planning and coordinating the programs
of the international unions and of the national committees of participating
countries. At a provisional organizational meeting in Brussels in,
October 19520 the CSAGI recommended the formation of national committees
by the Interested nations of the world and requested the formulation of
plans and proposels by the national committees, the sponsoring unions,
bnd the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
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0-2d the third in B,. a:3sele, 8-14 September 195. The purpose of
The first f orta_ts` -nar, v "088,10M of CSAGI was held in Prussels,
t ur?e.-3 July 15153; the second F .s held In Rome . 30 September-4 Oe Loher
these meetings WEB essentially to coordinate pregrms, note deficiencies
and defects, urg? their correction, and organize the necessary working
groups for detailed coordination of plans and operational control of
field activities
To dates soxre forty-exid countries have joined in sponsoring vr&rious
activities of the TGY. Soviet Bloc participating countries, in addition
to the USSR, include East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and possibly
Hungary and Communist China. Other than listing the stations to be set
up within the country, none of these satellites subuittei any national
program of participation. Czechoslovakia, with s single delegate, was
the only one represented at the Rome and. Brussels (1955) meetings..
Of the entire Soviet Bloc, only the USMI is kna waa to have established
a. national committee and associated working groups (see Attachment: A).
In the USSR, 14 working groups are responsible for the conduct of
scientific research and or the coordination of the activities of Soviet
establishments engaged in IGY work. Of the 16-man Sovi a p: delegation
present at the i955 Brussels C.St GI conference, 11 are members of the
?t.-ymar, U31,15;1 National Committee. Of the il, 6 are mexaber;3 of a working
axui 5 are nemhers of neither the National Committee nor one of
the working groux sa .
prcgr of work proposed by CSAGI for the IGY was initially
organized into nine general scientific areas: meteorolo,3Y, latitude and
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I ongitude determi aatjors., geor a; etism, . ionosphere, aurora .and airglow,
sole activity, e:)smic glaciology, and oceanograp127. Although not
scientific areas, rockets and World Days were adopted as topics of
activity -- the f'anner a:: an iiwc ortsnt research tool and the latter for
special in.ervals of sic nltaneous concentrated observations. Later
the list was incr':ssed to include gravity measurements and seismology.
Vie rocketo activity vao extended into rockets and sate7_ .ites with the
US announcement o.' the launching of an earth satellite for the IGY program.
The grouping of observation stations was generally # rranged by
C' GI. into geogra)hic reF;ions defined as follows: the Arctic Region,
the Antarc =.ic Reg on, the Equatorial Belt, the 100E Meridian Line, the
1400H Meridian Li-,ie, and the 80?-70?W Meridian Line. At Brussels, 1955,
the 1100E Heridia 3 Line was added. In addition, other groupings of
xb a'O.ons have bee.i developed to accommodate the special interests of some
of the individual diecipi1nes.
It is importr;.ut to note that the IGY program evolved primarily as
a voluntary international cooperative effort of scientists. fievertheless
it is dependent, :.n the f inc.i analysis, on the will, interests, and
financial means o4' the individual participating countries that assim-e
the fi bncia1 reps ponsibiiity for the program. Some countries are not
oaniAg, the progr?z at all, while others are joining on ? limited
hasis. On the other hand.. some countries are concurrently undertaking
additional earth-,science studies that are not a part of the IGY program.
The CSAGI operatefs in a coordinating and advisory capacity capable only
of recommending those measures that will insure the most productive
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program of data collection throughout as much of the world as possible.
Thus, the CSAGI has no veto or policing powers for any enforcement of
its recommendations.
The voluntary cooperative basis of the IGY will merit particular
attention in the future in connection with the exchange of data among
participating nations. The unsatisfactory Soviet past record of
unm.=illingness to make most of its geophysical data on the USSR available
to the West raises reasonable doubt of its willingness to share all of
its IGY data with the non-Communist world. The doubt is even greater
with respect to the exchange of the other physical-environmental data
and studies to be made by the Soviets over and above the IGY program.
For the exchange of data, the CSAGI established Working Group XV,
Publications and Publicity, whose duty at the last Brussels conference
was to seek agreement on (1) what data are to be interchanged, (2) how
and when the interchange will occur during the IGY, and (3) the form of
data publication to be made after the IGY. To date, no information has
been obtained on the results of this group's deliberations at Brussels.
C. Development of Soviet Participation in the IGY
The declaration of Soviet intentions to join the IGY did not follow
a clear-cut pattern. First indications were made to the World Meteoro-
logical. Organization in connection with its IGY program. Formal
announcement of psrtieipstion in the IG'i as a whole was not made until
4 October 1954, several months after the Academy of Sciences, USSR, had
formed what appears to have been a national organizing committee.
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6 D0S.. Tte Camara (Argentina)
9, D.S. Ssperans. (Argentina)
10. D.S. Oreadas (A gentina)
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I. D.8. Peter I Island (Japan)
2. D. S ~ 0. San Karin (Argentina)
3- D.S s M ?gueerita Bay (United Kingd
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Pte Qonsnle4 Vid*ls (Chile)
Deception (Chile)
o?Kiggins (Chile)
Admiralty My (United Kingdcaa)
Hope Bay (United Kingdom)
USSR Station at Knox Coast (UM)
USSR In iate Station (USSR)
t8 . Polar Station (UM)
Intermediate Station (Australia)
mo ri egian Station (Norway)
Japanese Suaoer station (Japan)
Stand by Re1a Stations
1. T Blew Punts Are.uas (jLrgwatida and. CtuJ e )
2. Capetovn (South .frica)
3- Melbourne (Australia)
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