Abstract

The government of Chile, through the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), has established an extensive and robust environmental monitoring network over the past three years, strategically deployed across the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Shetland Islands, and Union Glacier. This sensor network represents a state-driven, permanent initiative that provides in situ meteorological, oceanographic, and glaciological data from the Antarctic territory to the scientific community and the general public. The program aligns with Chile's National Antarctic Policy, contributing to the understanding of global climate change impacts on the Antarctic Peninsula and its surrounding areas. Currently, the network consists of 13 automatic monitoring stations, whose installation and periodic maintenance are made possible through coordinated efforts among various national institutions, including INACH, the Meteorological Directorate of Chile, and the Armed Forces. These stations are designed for rapid deployment, capable of withstanding adverse climatic conditions, and are energy-autonomous, recording and transmitting data even during the harsh winter months. The sensor network began its trial phase with four stations installed during the 2022 summer campaign. In its first year of operation, some sensors and the power system encountered failures, which were addressed in subsequent Antarctic campaigns, leading to the installation of nine additional multiparametric stations (as shown in Figure). By its third year, the network is operating efficiently, transmitting data every six hours to a public web platform for visualization and download (www.redsensoresinach.cl). INACH supports the sensor network with robust computational infrastructure, an instrumentation laboratory, and a team of monitoring experts, ensuring the network's operational continuity. With over a year of uninterrupted measurements in Antarctica, the LEMA network has recorded extreme meteorological events (e.g., heatwaves) in previously unmonitored areas, providing relevant and novel information to the international scientific community.