Extreme science

Your names have travelled thousands of nautical miles on board RRS Sir David Attenborough, from the UK all the way to mainland Antarctica.  

Here’s the moment Captain Will Whatley handed over the time capsule to Aurelia Reichardt, Station Leader at Rothera Research Station. 

Aurelia has found a safe spot for it until the Discovery Building is ready next year. Once it’s finished, the time capsule will be displayed there for all to see!

Meet Ice Cold Katy

As well as a big red ship, British Antarctic Survey also has five little red aircraft; four De Haviland Canada Twin Otters (including one called Ice Cold Katy!), and one De Havilland Canada Dash-7. 

These tough little planes are used for both science (more on that next week!) and transporting people and cargo, and are specially adapted for flying in the extreme Antarctic climate. For example, the Twin Otters have special skis so they can land on snow and ice.  

Rothera’s runway

As part of our work to modernise Rothera Research Station, we resurfaced our runway so flights can continue to bring researchers from around the world to Antarctica to do their vital research. 

The new runway is made of all natural materials from Antarctica. It’s a gravel runway made of crushed rock instead of snow or ice. This is because Rothera is warmer than other parts of Antarctica, so an ice runway would melt in the summer. In other parts of Antarctica, we have ‘blue-ice’ runways where the aircraft land on skis!

The main challenge of construction in Antarctica is planning. You can read more about fixing one of the world’s most remote runways in this article.   

Science at Rothera

Science takes place year-round at Rothera. Every day, whatever the conditions, a weather balloon is released which collects vital information about temperature, humidity and wind speed.  

Changes in the ocean and climate can take place over decades, so collecting daily data over many years means researchers can see trends in how our environment is changing. This weather data is fed directly to the Met Office, and forms part of a global network of weather monitoring.  

We also collect data about the ocean throughout the year. Scientists gather information about the temperature, saltiness, macronutrients and chlorophyll at a key location near Rothera. This area changes a lot each year and is a site of rapid climate warming.

One of the coolest things about this project is that it’s one of the most important long-term monitoring programmes in the Southern Ocean – partly because it includes winter-time measurements. These are hard to get, making this project pretty unique! 

Marine biology at Rothera

Scuba diving is an important part of marine biology at Rothera. Highly trained divers visit Antarctica’s underwater world to collect important science data on how the environmental conditions and the seafloor creatures are changing over time.  Some of these measurements have been taken every week or two for decades! 

Diving in the extreme cold of Antarctica comes with challenges… divers wear layers of warm clothes underneath drysuits (an insulated full-body suit that keeps water out, like a thick, waterproof onesie), thick hoods and gloves to stay warm.  

Another important task for divers at Rothera Research Station is collecting marine animals for scientific research. These are looked after in the aquarium in the Bonner Laboratory and transported on the RRS Sir David Attenborough to the UK at the end of the season. The animals are used by scientists at the BAS HQ in Cambridge for research into how these unique critters are adapted to extreme cold and how they may be affected by climate change. 

Or want to know more about what it’s like diving under the ice? Meet Jack Gordon and Mike Lindsell, Field Dive Officers at Rothera.  

Extreme camping

A lot of researchers need to spend time in the field, away from our stations, to do their science. This usually happens in the Antarctic summer (winter in the northern hemisphere) when temperatures are a bit warmer and there are long hours of daylight.  

Fieldwork teams travel by air or snowmobile to their research sites, where they camp in pyramid tents or small huts. Pyramid tents are specially designed to withstand high winds and blasts from ice particles. To insulate themselves from the cold ice, researchers use a butyl ground sheet, inflatable airbeds and sheepskins. 

Field teams might camp for up to 100 days! How much science they can get done depends upon the weather (as with most things in Antarctica!) Sometimes it’s just too windy or there is a whiteout – where snow and cloud blur together and all you can see is white. It’s a bit like being inside a “Ping-Pong” ball. In weather like this, the teams stay inside their tents, relaxing or doing indoor jobs. But when the weather is good, science happens around the clock, with researchers working in shifts so everyone gets to rest. 

This season, we have teams heading into the deep field to service weather stations across the continent, into the Behrendt Mountains to collect samples of rocks from deep under the ice, and to King George Island to learn more about seafloor fossils.  

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is a remote part of Antarctica where scientists sometimes camp for their research. Check out this timelapse video of a weatherhaven tent (where the teams eat, relax and warm up) being set up. 

The coolest job in Antarctica?

Polar guides have one of the most challenging and varied roles at Rothera. They take science teams out into the field, teach them safety and survival skills and take winterers for their winter trip. 

When they get to Rothera, the polar guides begin an intensive 3-week training course. They learn about Antarctic navigation and field camping, as well as how to understand the weather, travel by skidoo and avoid crevasses (deep cracks in the ice).

Learn more about polar guide training here. 

This is an extract from the diary of a scientist based at Rothera Research Station written during a camping trip into the field (from our educational website Discovering Antarctica – find out more about life in the field on the website.)