Research stations in Antarctica Meteorological Office, Ministry of Livestock and National Postal and Telegraphs Office. In 1906, Argentina communicated to the international community the establishment of a permanent base on South Orkney Islands. Little happened for the following forty years until the Second World War, when the British launched Operation Tabarin in 1943, to establish a presence on the continent. The chief reason was to establish solid British claims to various uninhabited islands and parts of Antarctica, reinforced by Argentine sympathies toward Germany. Prior to the start of the war, German aircraft had dropped markers with swastikas across Queen Maud Land in an attempt
West Antarctica Year (1957–1958) and explorations which disclosed that the Transantarctic Mountains provide a useful regional border between West Antarctica and East Antarctica. Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) approved the name in 1962. West Antarctica is mostly covered by a massive ice sheet referred to as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). In recent decades this ice sheet has shown signs of decreasing mass. Unlike East Antarctica, West Antarctica has shown some effects of global warming. The parts of West Antarctica not covered with ice (Antarctic oasis), which are the coasts of the Antarctic Peninsula, constitute a biodiversity region known as