Palmer is staffed year-round; however, the population drops to around 19 people for winter maintenance after the conclusion of the summer research season.

Old Palmer was designated as an emergency refuge for the new station in case of disaster, though this perceived need disappeared over time.

It was dismantled and removed from the Antarctic as part of the National Science Foundation's environmental cleanup efforts in the early 1990s.

The station also houses year-round monitoring equipment for global seismic, atmospheric, and UV-monitoring networks, as well as a site for the study of heliophysics.

The ship also carries field parties to sites around the Antarctic Peninsula to study glaciology, geology, and paleontology.

[8] In 2005, a research team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Southern Mississippi mapped the nearby ocean floor.

[9] In 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began the staff noted they felt protected from the spreading virus, but some were eager to return home to help.

[12] Some of the areas of scientific study at Palmer Station include zooplankton, phytoplankton, microbial ecology, biochemistry, penguins, and other seabirds.

[5] Although isolated from the rest of the world for months at time, the base itself is highly social and difficult for introverts, with one comparing the atmosphere at Palmer to a college dorm or summer camp.

[13] Palmer Station was re-supplied by the R/V Laurence M. Gould, a ship with an ice-strengthened hull that made routine science research cruises around the peninsula.

After years of service, the Hero was retired in 1984 and replaced by the R/V Polar Duke, a larger and more modern ice-strengthened vessel under charter from Rieber Shipping, based in Bergen, Norway.

The 1980 Japanese film Fukkatsu no hi (Day of Resurrection/Virus) revolves around Palmer Station as the gathering place for humanity's last survivors of a deadly virus.

The film stars George Kennedy as Admiral Conway, the station's commanding officer and features Glenn Ford as the President of the United States.