Animals of Rothera 

Your names are in Antarctica

But first, it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: your names are in Antarctica. Here is Eli, with the very special memory stick holding all of your names! We’ll be keeping this safe for now, before the team take it into the deep field in the next few weeks… 

It’s Jeremie and Tom’s first time at Rothera Research Station as well. After their epic ferry flight down from Canada, they are finding their feet on station. They share their thoughts on life in Antarctica so far… 

The wonderful wildlife of Rothera

Rothera Research Station is located on Adelaide Island, to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Its coastal location makes it the perfect location to study and watch some of the wonderful wildlife found in the Southern Ocean.

We’re lucky enough to spot seals, penguins and even whales from the research station, as well as birds like skuas and petrels.  

The main bay at Rothera – called Ryder Bay – is visited by minke and humpback whales, and the next bay over is home to a family of orcas! 

Let’s dive in 

Rothera is a hub for marine biology, and lots of researchers visit the station to study the creatures living on the seafloor.  

These creatures might be less well-known than their charismatic friends, but they’re incredibly important in helping us to understand how the Southern Ocean is changing as our climate warms. 

To study these creatures, marine biologists and divers need to head into the icy-cold ocean which can be as cold as -1.8ºC. They do this all year – and when the ocean is frozen over, they cut holes in the sea ice to dive through! 

Dives can involve doing surveys, setting up experiments or collecting samples. A 20-minute dive can involve hours of preparation to make sure everyone stays safe.  

Take an island tour

Ollie Tucker is a Boating Officer at Rothera Research Station. His job encompasses anything to do with using and maintaining our fleet of boats. He helps the scientists collect data about the ocean, supports diving, transfers people to and from local islands, and provides search and rescue support in the unlikely event of an emergency.  

It takes a lot of skill to pilot boats in Antarctica. There are icebergs and sea ice to navigate, and the weather can change in an instant.  

Animal adaptions 

Surviving in the frigid Southern Ocean is no mean feat, and lots of the animals living there have weird and wonderful ways of surviving.

For example, the aptly-named icefish has no red blood cells – that means its blood is clear and its heart is white, not red! Without red blood cells, its blood is less viscous, or thick and sticky, so it’s easier to circulate in the cold.

Meet Professor Melody Clark – she studies all of the cool ways Antarctic sea creatures are adapted for the cold…

Introducing the Discovery Building 

Over the past six years, we’ve been busy building a clever new building called the Discovery Building. But, it’s more than just a building. It’s the beating heart of Rothera!  

It’s been built to support our important work in Antarctica – not only our incredible polar science but all the people you need to successfully run a research station.  Before Discovery was built, we used lots of older buildings, some of which are almost 50 years old.

Let’s take a look at some of the cool features of this big blue building:

• The Discovery Building is blue. This colour was chosen specially for the tones and hues of the Antarctic landscape.

• It has a 6m tall climbing wall with a special training platform for field guides to show people how to deal with the tough landscape outdoors!

• You can’t leave the station to go to a shop, café or cinema so we have lots of rooms for hobbies. There’s a music room and a craft room for people to learn new skills.

• The walls and stairways inside are painted in bright colours to help the people inside cope with the cold, snowy, windy weather outside.

• The wind deflector stops snow from piling up around the building. There’s a LOT of snow in Antarctica and it can take almost a month to clear the snow away, with some drifts 7m deep!

How did we build a large blue building in Antarctica?  

We ‘build it before we build it’, using a computer model and building some parts in the UK. We see if they can all fit together first before we send them to Antarctica. There are no shops at Rothera or anywhere in Antarctica, so we can’t pop out to get an extra screw or pot of paint if we run out – everything has to be very carefully planned in advance.