Brazil Warms to Job of Exploring the Frozen Continent : Antarctica: President Collor pays a visit, pointing up the country’s interest in the bottom of the world.

The girl from Ipanema would get frostbite at this lonely outpost, tropical Brazil’s base on the frozen continent.

President Fernando Collor de Mello reaffirmed Brazil’s interest in the region by visiting the base in February. He is the first Brazilian leader to set foot in the Antarctic.

Collor told an audience of scientists and naval officers that his government opposes commercial or military exploitation of Antarctica. Brazil supports a permanent ban on mining.

“Brazil is determined that the destiny of this immense continent be dedicated to peace and science, beyond the reach of any military activity and free from the risk of nuclear contamination,” he said.

The Brazilians built their Antarctic station in 1984 among the massive glaciers and frozen mountains of Keller Peninsula on King George Island, 3,600 miles south of Rio de Janeiro.

It will have a voice in revising the 30-year-old Antarctic Treaty at a conference this week in Madrid. Thirty-nine countries have signed the treaty, which governs development.

Twenty-six countries, including Brazil, the United States, Soviet Union, England, Japan and Chile, are members of the treaty’s consultative committee. The other 13 signers have no voting rights.

Adrien de Gerlache, a Belgian explorer, first placed the green and yellow Brazilian flag in the Antarctic in 1898, but Brazil did not send an official expedition of its own until 1982.

Two years later, the Comandante Ferraz base was inaugurated with eight container-type housing modules.

Today, 59 of the galvanized steel modules provide sleeping quarters, a kitchen, dining hall, game room, gym, laboratory and communications center.

Electricity comes from two diesel-powered generators. A nearby lake supplies drinking water.

The modules stay at a cozy 70 degrees Fahrenheit while, outside, temperatures often dip to 31 below zero and winds swirl at 125 miles an hour.

Twelve people run the base during nine months of winter: four scientists and eight navy personnel who handle administration. In summer, up to 25 people occupy the modules.

Those who have lived at the station describe it as an unforgettable experience.

“This is a true re-education, a new type of learning,” navy Cmdr. Arnaldo Caiado said.

Rosalinda Montone of the Oceanographic Institute of Sao Paulo, said: “The isolation and adverse environment help bring people together.” She was on her second tour at Ferraz, studying marine pollution.

Summer staff members fight homesickness by playing soccer on an improvised field, watching videos of Rio’s wild Carnival celebration and listening to a broad range of music.

Meals are special events. “Here, people have big appetites and they don’t like frozen food, so I have to give a special touch to the menu,” said the cook, Joao Almeida.

On the day Collor dropped in, lunch included a salad made with dried vegetables, fish souffle, roast beef with pasta, rice and black beans.

“Nothing special,” Almeida said.

Little time is wasted at the station. The Brazilian Antarctic program is doing research in 16 areas, including atmospheric science, biology, medicine, oceanography and geology.

The most recent arrival is Jefferson Simoes, Brazil’s first glacier expert, who has a doctorate from Cambridge University in England.

Simoes, 32, is studying how pollution has affected the environment in the planet’s last great uninhabited region.

“I’m going to immerse myself in the past, analyzing the layers of ice buried by time,” he said.

Because of the economic crisis, Brazil reduced the Antarctic program’s annual budget of $3.5 million. Antonio Jose Teixeira, a program official, said the station needs computers, snow tractors, a new boat and other equipment.

“We’re realists,” he said. “We’ve made the program compatible with the country’s financial situation.”

A total of 80 scientific bases make King George Island seem like a small United Nations. Messages in English, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and Polish crackle on the radio.

In the warmer months, November to March, the navy polar ship Barao de Teffe supplies the Brazilians with food, equipment and fuel, and brings visiting military and scientific personnel.

The air force makes three flights to the station during summer and three in winter. There is no airstrip, so the planes land at a Chilean base 25 minutes away by helicopter.