It lies at an elevation of 13 m, about 30 km south-west of Prime Head, the northernmost point of the Antarctic Peninsula, at Cape Legoupil.

[2] The German Antarctic Receiving Station (GARS) was established at O'Higgins in 1991 by the DLR.

It is a satellite ground station sited in Antarctica to enable reception of data from satellite-based sensors within the south polar region that might otherwise be lost.

High bandwidth sensors such as SAR generate too much data to be stored on board the satellite for transmission to ground stations elsewhere.

Average annual precipitation amounts to 771 mm (30.35 in), and is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year, typically peaking marginally during the austral spring.