Base President Eduardo Frei Montalva
The Antarctic Air Base "Presidente Frei" Eduardo Frei Montalva is the largest Antarctic base in Chile and one of the main ones in all of Antarctica. It is located on the Fildes Peninsula, an ice-free area, off Fildes Bay (Maxwell Bay), west of King George Island, South Shetland Islands. Adjacent to it is the Escudero Base and it is also only 200 meters from the Russian Bellingshausen base. Its geographic coordinates are 62°12′0″S 58°57′51″W / -62.20000, -58.96417 and it is located at an altitude of 10 meters above the sea level. It is located in the Antarctic territory claimed by Chile (Chilean Antarctic Territory, Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region).
Features
It has a 1,300-meter runway, the Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Martin Air Base, with 50 intercontinental and 150 intracontinental flights per season, serving as transportation to a large number of bases in the sector.
It also includes Villa Las Estrellas, a hospital, a school, a bank, a small supermarket, a post office, a chapel, among other services.
The maximum population in summer is 150 people, and the average population in winter is 80 people.
It began operating in 1969 as the President Eduardo Frei Montalva Antarctic Meteorological Center. When the facilities were expanded, it was called "Lieutenant Rodolfo Marsh Base", keeping the meteorological center its original name. In the 1990s the entire complex was renamed Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva.
Since 1985, there has been a dependency of the Chilean Navy, called the Captaincy of the Port of Bahía Fildes, which only opened in summer to support scientific activities and study water pollution. Since 2006, the Port Authority of Bahía Fildes has been operating throughout the year, with the purpose of keeping neighboring bases informed about the weather conditions in the Bay and to act in case of accidents at sea.
Climate
Like all the few permanent ice-free areas of North Antarctica, close to sea level, the sector falls into the tundra climate category. The average temperature of the coldest month (July) is -6.3 °C; of the warmest month (January), 1.4 °C; annual average -2.4 °C. Average rainfall: month with the most rainfall (March), 62.5 mm; month with less rainfall (July), 18.2 mm; annual 405 mm.
 Average Frei Base climate parameters | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Ene. | Feb. | Mar. | Open up. | May. | Jun. | Jul. | Ago. | Sep. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Annual |
| Temp. max. abs. (°C) | 13.0 | 9.2 | 8.3 | 5.9 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 6.0 | 8.2 | 13.0 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 2.7 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 0.6 | -0.8 | -1.5 | -0.9 | -2.2 | -1.3 | -0.8 | 0.0 | 2.1 | 0.3 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 1.5 | 1.6 | 0.4 | -1.7 | -3.8 | -5.5 | -6.5 | -6.5 | -4.5 | -2.6 | -1.0 | 0.6 | -2.3 |
| Temp. medium (°C) | 0.3 | 0.6 | -1.2 | -4.8 | -8.2 | -9.4 | -13.2 | -11.3 | -8.0 | -5.6 | -2.8 | -0.3 | -5.3 |
| Temp. min. abs. (°C) | -5.1 | -5.8 | -9.9 | -16.8 | -23.6 | -24.2 | -28.5 | -28.7 | -23.0 | -17.0 | -10.7 | -6.8 | -28.7 |
| Total precipitation (mm) | 53.8 | 52.3 | 52.5 | 46.6 | 31.0 | 29.2 | 32.2 | 34.5 | 42.0 | 47.7 | 41.0 | 30.1 | 492.9 |
| Hours of sun | 83.8 | 71.2 | 57.3 | 23.6 | 8.3 | 1.2 | 3.9 | 15.8 | 44.2 | 93.2 | 104.5 | 98.1 | 605.1 |
| Relative humidity (%) | 91 | 89 | 89 | 89 | 88 | 90 | 89 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 89 | 81 | 89 |
| Source: Chilean Meteorological Directorate (temperature data:1970-2004, all other 1990-2000) | |||||||||||||
Historical site and monument
The Antarctic Treaty Monument, a plaque commemorating the signatories of the Antarctic Treaty, in the four official languages in which it was signed, was inaugurated in 1999, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the treaty. It was designated Antarctic Historic Site and Monument No. 82 under the Antarctic Treaty, and conserved by the Frei Montalva Base.