Antarctica suplly convoy for Concordia Research Station

Concordia Research Station is a Franco-Italian facility built 3,233 m above sea level at a location called Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau. It is located 1,100 km inland from the French research station Dumont d'Urville and is 1670 km from the geographic South Pole. Four to five times a year, the French L'Astrolabe icebreaker and research vesselis chartered by the French Polar Institute - Paul Emile Victor (IPEV) and the French Southern and Antartic Lands (TAAF) to transport supplies as well as scientific and logistical personnel from Hobart, Tasmania, to Dumont d'Urville. From Hobart, it takes L'Astrolabe from one to two weeks to negotiate the ice and reach the French scientific station on the planet's coldest continent. From here, a convoy known as the "Raid" trucks supplies across 1200 km of frozen desert to Concordia. Pictured: Penguins in Antarctica, during the austral summer in January-February 2013.