Unlike most other research stations on the continent, Troll is constructed on the snow-free slope of solid rock breaking through the ice sheet at Jutulsessen, located 1,275 metres (4,183 ft) above mean sea level.

Troll is located in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, which Norway claims as a dependent territory.

[4] The station is located on the nunatak bare ground area Jutulsessen, at 1,270 metres (4,170 ft) above mean sea level.

It serves as a pilot installation for the declared middle term target of reducing the oil consumption of the research station significantly, by extending the solar PV plant over the next few years.

Being located south of the Antarctic Circle, Troll has midnight sun in the summer (from about November 9th to February 1st) and polar night during the winter (from about May 15th to July 27th).

In particular, the facility measures aerosols, organic and inorganic pollution, ozone and ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

[11] TrollSat will be one of 30 ground stations for the European satellite navigation system Galileo,[12] and is Norway's main contribution to the project.

The area had been annexed as a dependency on 14 January 1939, at the time mainly based on Norwegian whaling interests in the Antarctic.

This gave the advantage that the research was not bound geographically,[17] but it weakened the Norwegian claim for Queen Maud Land and the right to participate as a consultative member of the Antarctic Treaty.

In 1989, any party to the Treaty could ask for it to be renegotiated, and Norwegian authorities saw the need for a permanent base to strengthen Norway's claim to Queen Maud Land.

[21] The first flight that was a preliminary to DROMLAN was made in 2000 from Cape Town, South Africa, to Henriksenskjera, where a Twin Otter was used onwards to Troll.

[21] New infrastructure included a new generator, emergency station, garage, provision stores, container ramps for equipment and fuel, and more laboratories.

[25] Troll Airfield was opened on 11 February 2005 by Queen Sonja of Norway[4] and the new research station the following day.

[23] Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg visited Troll in January 2008, when he among other things opened TrollSat.

[13] At the same time, as part of the International Polar Year, a joint Norwegian – United States expedition traveled from Troll to the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station and back.