A break in the ice has forced the British Antarctic Survey to temporarily withdraw its staff from the futuristic Haley VI research station. The whole complex is to be shifted to a spot where it won't drift away.
Image: British Antarctic Survey
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Working in the Antarctic
With temperatures dropping to -55°C and constant darkness for much of the year, working as a researcher in Antarctica can come with notable challenges. But there are also plenty of positives.
Image: British Antarctic Survey
Science on the move
When Halley VI first arrived in Antarctica it became the world's first relocatable research facility. Despite offering living accommodation and state-of-the-art laboratories, the huge construct can be moved around the continent with relative ease.
Image: British Antarctic Survey
Clear signs of change
Halley VI has been forced to move due to a new crack in the Brunt Ice Shelf that has been growing in size just north of the facility. Although the base is in no immediate damage, they believe it could lead to further cracks and large icebergs breaking off from the sheet.
Image: British Antarctic Survey
A space weather station
The Halley VI is in the Antarctic to provide information on a wide variety of topics such as space weather, ozone depletion, polar atmospheric chemistry and of course climate change. Famous for being the first research facility to detect holes in our ozone layer, the project is perfectly placed below the auroral zone to study the skies.
The large red container in the middle of the facility is used as a communal area for the research scientists. With 70 staff during the summer and just 16 over the winter, it allows those working in the remote location to socialize and take their mind off work from time to time.
Image: British Antarctic Survey
Best seats in the house
Due to it's location the Halley VI facility is tasked with working through 24-hour darkness for 105 days of the year and is often cut off from the rest of the world. However that doesn't sound so bad when you have regular viewings of the spectacular Aurora Australis just above.
Image: British Antarctic Survey
A connected effort
The research facility is made up of eight modules. Each of these modules is built upon hydraulic legs and specially designed skies. When moving the facility each module is capable of being towed individually, making it much easier to get across the continent.
Image: British Antarctic Survey
A chilling prospect
Despite the glorious views and exciting research, the climate is often extremely dangerous for humans to live in. At Halley VI the winter months can often see temperatures drop below -20°C and even fall as far as -55°C as the nearby sea freezes over entirely.
Image: British Antarctic Survey
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The futuristic blue and red modules of the Halley VI research station certainly make an impressive sight, perched as they are on stilts with giant skis.
The structure is now on the move, little by little, to a point 23 kilometers (14 miles) inland, away from two cracks in the Brunt Ice Shelf that gave cause for concern.
So far, seven of the eight modules have been shifted by tractor some 23 kilometers inland, away from two cracks in the ice - one of which is a little over 7 kilometers away.
The emerging fissures in the ice presented "a complex glaciological picture," that British Antarctic Survey (BAS) couldn't ignore. Bosses had to take a decision about the safety of the 16 staff due to stay on through the winter, with fears that the station would be left floating and cut off from its supply route.
While it's not a problem to evacuate staff in Antarctica's summer months, things get more difficult in winter. Access from sea is more difficult as coastal waters freeze, and the 24-hours of darkness also don't help things.
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The latest crack to have emerged in the Brunt Ice Shelf is known as the "Halloween Crack," after it was discovered on October 31.
"There is no immediate risk to the people currently at the station, or to the station itself," the BAS said in a statement. "There is sufficient uncertainty about what could happen to the ice during the coming Antarctic winter for BAS to change its operational plans."
The moving operation requires a lot of manpower. There are currently 88 people at Halley VI, and most of them are involved in the summer operation to move the station.
It was assembled in 2012, being the sixth Halley research station Britain has had on the Brunt Ice Shelf. Among the achievements off the other Halley stations was the discovery of the Antarctic Ozone Hole in 1985.
Amid concern over rising Antarctic temperatures, more and more fissures appear to be emerging in the ice shelves around Antarctica. Earlier this month, a British research group warned that a 5,000-square-kilometer ice block on the Larsen C ice shelf is primed to break away.
