First pictures from Antarctica
t the beginning of the 20th century, Antarctica was terra incognita. Until then, no one had managed to penetrate the interior of the white continent. Massive pack ice and extreme weather conditions thwarted any advance. But that was about to change. In 1901, the “Antarctic Year” was proclaimed. This marked the start of a legendary race. Three expeditions set off for the South Polar region: a British one led by Robert Falcon Scott, a Swedish one led by Otto Nordenskjöld and a German one led by geographer and geophysicist Erich von Drygalski.
Drygalski had the tall ship “Gauss” at his disposal for his journey. The brand new “Gauss” was one of the first ships to be designed as a research vessel at the time. The “Gauss” carried the 32 participants of the German South Polar expedition to the Antarctic. The sailing ship was modeled on Fridtjof Nansen's Norwegian “Fram”. Her hull could freeze in the ice without being crushed.
The expedition reached the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen archipelago in early 1902. Some of the researchers stayed behind to carry out geomagnetic and meteorological observations.
Drygalski left the records and pictures of his expedition, known as the Gauss Expedition, to the Leipzig Museum für Länderkunde, the predecessor of today's Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL). The archive comprises around 1400 glass negatives and paper prints. The IFL has now begun indexing and digitizing the Antarctic photos from the collection.
The scientific photographs show characteristic animal and plant species, rocks, ice and landscapes. Expedition members also photographed the construction of the “Gauss” in the Kiel Howaldtswerke, the arrival and departure, everyday life on board the ship, the research work and everyday life in the Antarctic. The photos taken from a tethered balloon are among the oldest surviving aerial photographs from the Antarctic.
“In addition to their historical significance, the images are also relevant for today's climate and environmental research,” emphasizes IfL Archive Director Bruno Schelhaas. In addition to the glaciological motifs, these include many photos of the Gaussberg. The 371-metre-high extinct volcano was discovered by the expedition and still serves as a landmark and geodetic marker today.
The historical photos are available on the Internet at:
ifl.wissensbank.com/esearcha/browse.tt.html
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