McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research centre located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents, and serves as the United States Antarctic science facility. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo.

A heat-stressed koala waits as a resident pours water on its back on December 19, 2015 in Adelaide, Australia. Adelaide is experiencing an extreme heatwave, with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees for five consecutive days. (Photo by Morne de Klerk/Getty Images)

Myanmar revellers take part in celebrations on the fifth and last day marking Thingyan, a water festival which brings in the country's new year, in Yangon on April 16, 2016. The Buddhist festival of water pouring symbolizes spiritual cleansing and begin the new year free from worldly impurities with celebrants devoting the four days of Thingyan in merry making of water dousing until the eve of new year. (Photo by Romeo Gacad/AFP Photo)

Tsetse, six-year-old daughter of Dukha herder Erdenebat Chuluu, sits among her family's reindeer in a forest near the village of Tsagaannuur, Khovsgol aimag, Mongolia, April 21, 2018. Nyamaa is an ethnic Darkhad, herders of northern Mongolia who have historically inhabited the steppe that borders the Taiga forests. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

The sculpture “It Takes Two to Tango” by Scottish sculptor David Mach is seen in front of the headquarters of the CMA-CGM shipping company office tower in the port of Marseille, France, March 15, 2016. (Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)

A Sri Lankan elephant, accompanied by his mahout, browse through a roadside fruit stall in Colombo on January 19, 2015. The Sri Lankan elephant is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as the population has declined by at least 50 percent over the last three generations, with the species threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation. (Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP Photo)

A brown bear is checked by foreign veterinaries and local staff members at the Four Paws Bear Sanctuary in Pristina, on May 9, 2014. (Photo by Hazir Reka/Reuters)

A Siberian tiger at a photographer for getting too much in its face during the presentation of two new Siberian tigers at Cabarceno Natural Reserve in Cabarceno, northern Spain, 21 July 2014. (Photo by Pedro Puente Hoyos/EPA)