Argentine Antarctica the first on the continent. On 18 December 2012, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom announced that the southern part of British Antarctic Territory (and Argentine Antarctica) has been named "Queen Elizabeth Land" in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. Argentina, which lays claim to part of the area, criticised the naming. In 2013 the Argentine Defense Ministry announced that Petrel Base will become a permanent base by 2015. The base will have an airport and logistics for transfer of passengers and cargo. The geographic structure of the Argentine Antarctica continues some features of the Patagonia, located to
Antarctica about seventy research stations (40 year-round or permanent, and 30 summer-only) in Antarctica, with an approximate population of 4000 in summer and 1000 in winter. The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 "AQ" is assigned to the entire continent regardless of jurisdiction. Different country calling codes and currencies are used for different settlements, depending on the administrating country. The Antarctican dollar, a souvenir item sold in the United States and Canada, is not legal tender. Each year, scientists from 28 different nations conduct experiments not reproducible in any other place in the world. In the summer more than 4,000 scientists operate research stations;