British Antarctic Survey abandons polar base as worrying crack grows in ice

British Antarctic Survey abandons polar base as worrying crack grows in ice


The Halley VI ice base is in danger from a growing ice crack  Credit: BAS

• Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
  

16 January 2017 • 6:09pm
Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey are abandoning their research station for the first time ever this winter after a new worrying crack developed in the ice sheet.
The renowned Halley VI ice base, from which the hole in the ozone layer was first detected, was already scheduled to be relocated 14 miles across the Brunt Ice Shelf because of an encroaching fissure in the ice.
But a new crack has been steadily growing to the north of the base, and computer modelling suggests that it could cause a large iceberg to calve away from the sheet, which could destabalise the area.


Although the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) says nobody is immediate danger, they cannot be sure that conditions would not worsen during the difficult conditions of the southern polar winter when an evacuation would be impossible.
“We want to do the right thing for our people,” said Captain Tim Stockings, the Director of Operations at the base.
“Bringing them home for winter is a prudent precaution given the changes that our glaciologists have seen in the ice shelf in recent months.
“The Halley VI Research Station sits on a floating ice shelf.  It was designed specifically to move inland if required.  The current work to relocate our station is going very well.  This challenging engineering project is scheduled to complete as planned by early March 2017.  
“Our goal is to winterise the station and leave it ready for re-occupation as soon as possible after the Antarctic winter.”



It is the first time the base has been closed for the winter  Credit: BAS

During the summer months the BAS could quickly airlift staff to safety should there by a sudden fracturing of the ice sheet. But, access to Halley by ship or aircraft is extremely difficult during the winter months of 24-hour darkness, extremely low temperatures and the frozen sea.
There are currently 88 people on station including summer-only staff working on the relocation project and 16 who were scheduled to over-winter. Some staff may be deployed to other BAS teams.
The BAS said every effort was being made to ensure the continuity of long-term scientific data capture.
It is the latest problem to beset the base.   In 2012, satellite monitoring of the ice shelf revealed the first signs of movement in the chasm that had lain dormant for at least 35 years and, by 2013, it began opening at an alarming pace of one mile per year.  If the base does not move, it could be in danger of tumbling into the chasm by 2020.
To make matters more time critical, in October, a new crack emerged 10 miles to the north of the research station across the route sometimes used to resupply the base.
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The team had just nine weeks to relocate operations, before the harsh winter begins, making it difficult to move the structure amid complete darkness, plummeting temperatures and gale-force winds.
The base was to be broken up into its eight modules and driven further inland on the back of large tractors. But the exercise has been abandoned to allow staff to be taken to safety.
The base is crucial to studies into global issues such as the impact of extreme space weather events, climate change, and atmospheric phenomena.  
Ozone measurements have also been made continuously at Halley since 1956 and it was scientific investigations from this location that led to the discovery of the Antarctic Ozone Hole in 1985.
Space weather data captured at Halley VI contributes to the Space Environment Impacts Expert Group that provides advice to Government on the impact of space weather on UK infrastructure and business.
The station is also home to an ongoing European Space Agency (ESA) experiment which is testing how well people can adapt to life in remote and isolated locations in preparations for long space flights, such as the first Mars landing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/01/16/british-antarctic-survey-abandons-polar-base-worrying-crack/