South Africa has been operating a weather station on Gough Island since 1956. Initially it was housed in the station at The Glen, but moved to the South Western lowlands of the island in 1963 where weather observations are more accurate. This weather office operates the same as stations in South Africa with hourly climate observations and twice daily upper-air ascents.
The station is administrated by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Directorate: Antarctica and Islands.
Gough Island (also known historically as Diego Alvarez) is a volcanic island rising from the South Atlantic Ocean to heights of over 900 metres (2950 ft) above sea level with an area of 35 square miles (91 km²). It is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha, which in turn is a dependency of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena. The land the station is built on is leased by South Africa under contract and is magistrated as a district of Cape Town.
It is uninhabited except for the 6 to 8 expedition members of the weather station as part of the South African National Antarctic programme (SANAP) and is thus one of the most remote places with a constant human presence. It is a lonely place, about 400 km (220 mi) southeast of the other islands in the Tristan da Cunha group, 2700 km (1700 mi) from Cape Town, and over 3200 km (2000 mi) from the nearest point of South America.
Gough Island is located at 40°19S 9°55W / -40.317, -9.917. Topographic features include the highest Peak, Edinburgh Peak, Hags Tooth, Mount Rowett, Sea Elephant Bay, Quest Bay, and Hawkins Bay.
It includes small satellite islands and rocks such as Southwest Island, Saddle Island (South), Tristiana Rock, Isolda Rock (West), Round Island, Cone Island, Lot's Wife, Church Rock (North), Penguin Island (Northeast), and The Admirals (East).
WikiPedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Island
 |
| Back: D. Briedenhann - medic, J. Bothma - radio tech, H. Sandberg - met, P. Els - radio opp Front: C. Koch - met, C. Hattingh - met, T.Potgieter - met |
 |
| Paul J. Els manning the radio (1968) |
 |
| Paul J. Els manning the radio (1969) |
 |
| News clipping of the team (1968) |
 |
| 1969 - Cape Town Harbour on return from Gough: Hattingh - Koch - Briedenhann Sandberg - Els - Potgieter - Bothma |
Reunions:
 |
| Potgieter - Bothma - Sandberg Koch - Hattingh - Els |
 |
| Els - Hattingh - Bothma - Potgieter - Koch |
