The first station in Antarctica to be mounted on jacks, the structure was raised each year to allow for the increase in height of the shelf by snowfall.

The Filchner Station was established by the West German Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in February 1982.

[1] The station was the first in the Antarctic to be mounted on jacks, allowing it to be raised in line with the increase in height of its surroundings due to snowfall.

[5][6] The Filchner Station conducted studies on the mass of the ice shelf, geological and geophysical investigations in the Weddell Sea and meteorological work.

Automatic instrumentation was installed to continue geophysical and meteorological investigations throughout the year, not just the summer period when the station was staffed.