Arctic Summer College Yearbook by Brendan O'Donnell Max Gruenig & Arne Riedel

Author:Brendan O'Donnell, Max Gruenig & Arne Riedel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

South Korea’s Polar Infrastructure

South Korea maintains advanced polar infrastructure. As mentioned above, KOPRI has a research station in Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard called the Dasan Station which was established on 29 April 2002. The station provides laboratory space with limited equipment: glacier and boating equipment, radios, firearms, computers, telephone, and fax (Dasan Station n.d.). Arctic specific research conducted at the Dasan station includes biology, marine geology, upper atmospheric science, micrometeorological research, and geothermal measurements (Arctic Research at Dasan Station n.d.).

Besides its Arctic station, KOPRI also operates two Antarctic research stations. The King Sejong Station located at King George Island was established in 1988 as a permanent research station for the Korea Antarctic Research Program (King Sejong Station n.d). Research conducted here ranges from geophysical and meteorological observations to biology and oceanography (King Sejong Station n.d). In 2014, South Korea opened its second research base, the Jang Bogo Station in Terra Nova Bay, making it the tenth country to run more than 1 year-round station in Antarctica (Yi 2014). It comprises 16 buildings and 24 observatory facilities, and it can accommodate up to 60 people (Yi 2014). This station hosts a number of scientific activities: reconstruction of paleo-climate and environment, research on Antarctic neotectonics, upper atmospheric observation, long-term oceanographic monitoring, and research on Antarctic meteorites (Scientific Activities n.d.).

However, the most valuable South Korean polar asset is its icebreaker Araon. Commissioned in 2009, Araon measures 110 meters in length, 19 meters in width, weighs 7507 tons, and can sail at three knots through one-meter-thick ice while carrying a crew of 85 (60 scientists and 25 crew) for 70 days (Korean Research Icebreaker n.d.). It is a floating research center loaded with scientific equipment to conduct studies in geophysics, marine biology, and oceanography. Araon is used for Antarctic expeditions from October to April and for Arctic research from July to August (Korean Research Icebreaker n.d.). Araon is a compound word consisting of the old Korean word “Ara” meaning ‘sea’ and the Korean word “On” meaning ‘all’ and “is named for a wish to cruise all the sea in the world” (Korean Research Icebreaker n.d.).

KOPRI has been actively participating in Arctic-related international scientific projects like the Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System, the NEEM project in Greenland, and terrestrial and atmospheric field research in Canada, among others (Han 2014). South Korea has also held a number of international conferences on Arctic affairs – KOPRI hosts the International Symposium on Polar Sciences (ISPS), an annual event organized since 1988, which aims “to bring polar scientists together to provide an international forum for exchanging and sharing their cutting-edge ideas and research results” (23rd International Symposium on Polar Sciences 2017). In March 2011, South Korea hosted the Arctic Science Summit Week, and, in 2012, KMI and the US East-West Center established the North Pacific Arctic Conference with participants from Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Norway, Russia, and the US to discuss emerging Arctic issues (Stensdal 2013, pp. 27–28). Korea also participates in a variety of Arctic related scientific organizations:

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