It is situated in the Schirmacher Hills on the Princess Astrid Coast in Queen Maud Land in East Antarctica and is, on average, 100 m (330 ft) above sea level.

With an area of 34 km2 (13 sq mi), the Schirmacher Oasis ranks among the smallest Antarctic oases and is a typical polar desert.

A number of theories exist about the formation of the oasis that include geothermal heating, intense insolation, or the hypothesis that the ice flow is blocked by a geological feature such as a mountain.

At the beginning of 1939 Germany launched an expedition under the command of captain Alfred Ritscher to explore an uncharted area of the Antarctic.

On March 10, 1959, the Soviet Union set up the research station Lazarev on the shelf ice in the region of the Schirmacher Oasis.

Research in natural sciences includes geodesy, glaciology, limnology, geomagnetism, geology, biology, meteorology, seismology, and other areas of expertise.

After the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc, parts of the Schirmacher Oasis counted among the heaviest polluted regions in Antarctica.

It has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 87), following a proposal by Germany to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

In 1983, the Dakshin Gangotri Station was set up on the shelf ice, about 90 km from the Schirmacher Oasis, but was decommissioned in 1989 due to excessive snow accumulation.