2512 FRANCE (TAAF) - Dumont d'Urville Station in Adélie Land

The Dumont d'Urville Station is a French scientific station in Antarctica on Petrel Island, Geology Archipelago in Adélie Land. It is named after explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville since his expedition landed on  Débarquement Rock in the Dumoulin Islands at the northeast end of the archipelogo on January 21, 1840. It is operated by the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor, a joint operation of French public and para-public agencies.

Petrel Island (French: Île des Pétrels) is a rocky island, 900m long and 45m in elevation, which lies north-west of Rostand Island and is the largest feature in the cluster of islands at the south-eastern end of Geology Archipelago. A pioneering French Antarctic research station, Port Martin, located 62 km east of D'Urville, was destroyed by fire on the night of January 23, 1952, without death or injury. In the same year, a small base, called Base Marret, was built on Petrel Island to study a rookery of emperor penguins.

The new main base, Dumont D'Urville station was opened on January 12, 1956, remaining in active use ever since. It allows 30-40 people to come ashore at one time. Ice and strong katabatic winds often prevent landings, either by boat or by helicopter. The station can accommodate about 30 winter-overs and 120 during the summer. The icebreaker ship L'Astrolabe carries supplies and personnel to the station from the port of Hobart, Tasmania. It does 5 round-trips between November and March.

About the stamps

The first stamp is part of a series depicting the flag of TAAF, issued on 2008:

• Black (0.01 EUR)

• Blue (0.02 EUR)

• Red (0.05 EUR) - It's on the postcard 2512

• Green (0.10 EUR) - It's on the postcard 3367

• Orange (0.20 EUR)

The second stamp depicts an Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), and was issued on January 2, 2015.

 The stamp of Laura Troudet, chemist, specialist in glaciology of French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV), which was member of the summer team at Dumont d'Urville Station 2015-2016.

The stamp of French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV).

The stamp of Dumont d'Urville Station.

The postmark of Dumont d'Urville Station.

References
Dumont d'Urville Station - Wikipedia

Sender: Laura Troudet
Sent from Dumont d'Urville Station (Adélie Land / TAAF / France / Antarctica), on ??.02.2016