Halley

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Halley Research Station is a British Antarctic Survey station located on the Brunt Ice Shelf floating on the Weddell Sea off the coast of the continent of Antarctica and the British Antarctic Territory. The facility is dedicated to the study of the atmosphere. Measurements from Halley led to the discovery of the ozone hole in 1985.[1]

History

Halley was founded in 1956, for the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, by an expedition from the Royal Society. The bay where the expedition decided to set up their base was named Halley Bay, after the astronomer Edmond Halley. The name was changed to Halley in 1977 as the original bay had disappeared due to changes in the ice shelf.

A series of six stations has stood on the shelf, their construction methods advancing with experience from the original wooden huts to strengthened structures, steel tunnels and finally the moveable system of the current station, Halley VI.

The first four stations in turn become buried by snow accumulation and crushed until uninhabitable, and then as the ice of the shelf moved northwards, they fell into the sea. Halley V was more robust and had the main buildings built on steel platforms that were raised annually to keep them above the snow surface. This was eventually demolished and replaced by Halley VI, the latest station of a radically different, mobile design. Halley VI was officially opened in February 2013 after a test winter.

In the Antarctic Summer of 2016/2017, the whole base was moved 14 miles upstream across the ice, section by section, as a lengthening crack in the Brunt Ice Shelf threatened to cut station's section of the shelf adrift.[2] The move was completed by the beginning of February 2017, but the station was then evacuated for the winter because of the unpredictability of a new crack in the ice shelf.[3][4]

Halley VI

One Halley VI module during construction

An architectural design competition was launched by RIBA Competitions and the British Antarctic Survey in June 2004 to provide a new design for Halley VI. The competition was entered by a number of architectural and engineering firms. The winning design, by Faber Maunsell and Hugh Broughton Architects was chosen in July 2005. It is a structure which, like Halley V, is jacked up on legs to keep it above the accumulation of snow. Unlike Halley V, there are skis on the bottom of these legs which allows the building to be relocated periodically.

Halley VI was built in Cape Town, South Africa by a South African consortium.[5][6] Servaccomm supplied modular accommodation pods for the new station through Galliford Try International.[7] The contract was for the manufacture of 26 pods in total, installed in eight modules, which provides fully serviced accommodation for 32 people. The first sections were shipped to Antarctica in December 2007.

Halley VI Station was officially opened in Antarctica on 5 February 2013. Kirk Watson a filmmaker from Scotland recorded the building of this space age station over a 4-year period.

Environment

Temperatures at Halley rarely rise above 0 °C although temperatures around -10 °C are common on sunny summer days. Typical winter temperatures are below -20 °C with extreme lows of around -55 °C.[1]

Aurora Australis over Halley V, Winter 1998

Winds are predominantly from the east; strong winds often picking up the dusty surface snow reducing visibility to a few yards.

One of the reasons for the location of Halley is that it is under the auroral oval, resulting in frequent displays of the Aurora Australis overhead. These are easiest to see during the 105 winter days (29 April - 13 August) when the sun does not rise above the horizon.

Inhabitants

During the winter months there are usually around 14 overwintering staff. In a typical winter the team is isolated from when the last ship leaves in late February until the first aeroplane arrives in early November. In the peak summer period, from late December to late February, staff numbers increase to around 70.

Often, none of the wintering team are scientists. Most are the technical specialists required to keep the station and the scientific experiments running; a wintering team at Halley may include a chef, a doctor, a communications manager, a vehicle mechanic, an electrician, a plumber, a field assistant, two electronics engineers, two meteorologists and a data manager. In addition there is a Winter Base Commander who is sworn in as a magistrate before deployment. Their main role is to oversee the day-to-day management of the station.

1996 saw the first female winterers at Halley. There have been at least two women wintering every year until 2009.[8]

Base life

Life in Antarctica is dominated by the seasons with a short hectic summer and a long winter. In bases such as Halley that are resupplied by sea the most significant event of the year is the arrival of the resupply ship (currently the RRS Ernest Shackleton, before 1999 the RRS Bransfield) in late December. This is followed by intense activity to unload all supplies before the ship has to leave again - typically this is done in less than 2 weeks.

The Halley summer season runs from early November when the first aeroplane lands, until late February when the last ship leaves.

Significant dates in the winter are sun-down (last day when the sun can be seen) on 29 April, midwinter (21 June) and sun-up (first day when the sun rises after winter) on 13 August. Traditionally the oldest person on base lowers the tattered flag on sundown and the youngest raises a new one on sun-up. Midwinter is a week's holiday during which, a member of the wintering team is chosen to keep the old flag. Hand made presents are also exchanged amongst the wintering team.

Outside links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Halley Research Station – British Antarctic Survey
  2. ↑ Moving Halley - British Antarctic Survey
  3. ↑ 'Halley Research Station Antarctica to close for winter': British Antarctic Survey press release 16 January 2017
  4. ↑ UK completes Antarctic Halley base relocation: BBC News 2 February 2017
  5. ↑ Petrel Engineering http://www.petrel.co.za/content.asp?PageID=1038&buster=2011%2F01%2F07+03%3A39%3A24+PM Retrieved 7 Jan 2011
  6. ↑ BAS Web site http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/living_and_working/research_stations/halley/halleyvi/ Retrieved 7 Jan 2011
  7. ↑ "Our Case Studies". Servaccomm. http://www.servaccomm.co.uk/casestudy/Modular-Buildings-Case-Study-Halley-VI-Antarctic-Pods-Servaccomm-. Retrieved 2012-08-13. 
  8. ↑ "Halley Bay - 2010". Z-Fids. http://www.smitha.demon.co.uk/zfids/2010/index.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-02. 
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