Tag Archives: BAS

Second Call of the Shack

Feb

2019

by aliirose | 0 Comments

The last couple of weeks have mainly been defined by change. While the season has generally been poor weather wise (even by South Orkney standards) it definitely feels like the weather is slowly moving back towards winter. This along with the penguins chicks starting to leave and the Fur seals heading off as well has made the island feel even more wild. In amongst the normal routine of diet sampling penguins, counting chicks and trying to refurbish the base we also had our second call from the Ernest Shackleton. The second call is time for us to get some fresh food, a resupply or beer, some post and to use the Shackletons small boats to do some jobs that we wouldn’t manage normally. Not the Ernest Shackleton. This factory ship has been lurking around all season. Part of the long term study of penguins we are involved with may well stop krill fishing in Antarctic and put an end to these krill factories. Looking down on the North Point colonies on a rare sunny day. Guano is pink so you can easily spot the colonies.

Deserted Adelie colonies at Gourlay

The same Adelie colony at the start of the season.

Ernest Shackleton off Foca Cove. With the small boats from the Shackleton we managed to pull lots of the left over building materials out of the huts on the west side of the island and resupply them with fresh drinking water.

The other thing that happens at Second call is the Shackleton takes all our rubbish. The ton bags on the pier being loaded onto the cargo tender are the landfill, paper and plastic recycling from seven guys for just over two months. This does not include all the glass, metal and food waste. If you think packaging is bad in UK supermarkets, Antarctica is another level!

Ernest Shackleton dwarfed by bergs as it drops us off at another of the huts.

Sea ice building up in the bays around the island

Chilled out Fur seal. Most Fur seals are not chilled out. The ones that visit us on Signy are all the young males who have failed to build a harem further north so they tend to be young and angry. When they are chilled out I love their inquisitive faces.

Snow petrel chicks getting even fluffier

The other big change ahead of us is coming home. We were meant to have another month here but in fact the ship will be back for us a week on Friday. The last few days have been a bit of scramble as we all work out how to fit the most work into the last few days on the island.

Posted in Adelie Penguin, alastair rose, ali rose, Antarctica, BAS, British Antarctic Survey, Ernest Shackleton, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide, Field Guide Antarctica, mountains to the sea, mountainstothesea, Penguin, Signy, Signy Research Station, South Orkney Islands Also tagged Adelie penguins, British Antarctic Survey, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Fur Seal, Signy, Signy Research Station, South Orkneys |

Dirty Penguin

Jan

2019

by aliirose | 0 Comments

Its all very well taking photos of beautiful landscapes with blue skies and wonderful black and white penguins with fluffy chicks but this doesn’t really show the reality of living on a tiny island with thousands of birds and animals. The paths out of base are in reality a litter of sharp rocks interspersed with moss banks and patches of old snow. On the rare cold, dry days the air is crisp and the ground hard though more often you’re squelching through penguin guano in the sleat with the smell of the colony getting stronger as you approach. So with that in mind heres a collection of the less lovely side of getting to live with these animals day in and day out. Fairly standard look for a Chinstrap penguin. Probably off to wonder aimlessly around or steal rocks from another birds nestAdelie chicks are not lovely and fluffy – usually they are rather bedraggled looking and covered in each others poo.
The best mullet I’ve seen in a while. Many of the Adelie chicks are getting close to fledging.
Chinstrap penguin creating Art. Land of life and death. Two skuas pulling apart a chinstrap chick. Tim and a Skua eyeing each other up. It can be hard to spot the Skua nests but you know when you’re getting close as they start to dive on you.

Skua nest with chick. Skuas are fairly brutal in their persecution of the penguins but they remain one of my favourite birds reminding me a lot of the Ravens you see in the mountains.

Lovely day to be a penguin. We walk down to the Gourlay peninsular every two days to count the Adelie and Chinstrap chicks and eggs. Some days are nicer than others!

Lovely day to to be a BAS employee. As well as counting the eggs and chicks every two days, Tim and I diet sample six penguins every four to five days. The pinky orange stream flowing down the slope is penguin guano from the few thousand birds in the colony above us as we wait for some volunteers to come ashore to diet sample.

Prawns tonight anyone? We aren’t meant to share anything about the diet sampling – its not a particularly pleasant process but currently the only way to record how penguins diets are changing as the world changes around them. The penguins mainly eat Krill – this is a sample from one bird.

Antarctic Tern on a blue sky day. Along with the Skuas these are another of my favourite birds though they are really hard to photograph especially when its cloudy. Along with these super fast fliers are the Prions and the Wilsons Storm Petrels which all love zipping around base in the evening. Hopefully more photos of these soon.

Posted in Adelie Penguin, alastair rose, ali rose, BAS, British Antarctic Survey, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide, Field Guide Antarctica, Signy, Signy Research Station, Skua Survey Also tagged adelie penguin, Chinstrap Penguin, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide Antarctica, guano, Penguin chicks, Penguins, Signy, Signy Research Station, Skua |

Christmas and Hogmanay

Jan

2019

by aliirose | 0 Comments

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Signy Research Station. While the BBC has already covered “Christmas at the end of the world” I thought I would share some photos from the festive period. Not much really changes on BAS bases at this time of year, its the middle of summer here and the middle of our work season. We do get Christmas day and Boxing day off as well as New Years day but all this really means is we have to fit what we normally do into a shorter week.

Finally some brief spells of good weather in the middle of our summer.

Despite it being Christmas Tim and I still need to go down to the Gourlay peninsular every two days and count the penguins. This photo was taken for the BBC to show our Christmas spirit.

“Family” Christmas Dinner. Not really any different to Christmas dinner in a lot of homes in the UK.

The locals sleeping off Christmas dinner.

Despite it being mid summer we did manage a Christmas sledging adventure on the icecap.

Skidoo accessed sledging – way better than walking up the hill yourself!

Straight after Boxing day Tim, Matt and I headed to the west coast of the island for two days to count the Southern Giant Petrels. Despite being massive these birds are very skittish and are currently in decline. We needed to count how many of the birds where on eggs in their colonies. The colonies are spread over the whole of the west coast so it was great to explore some of the more remote parts of the island. The actual survey was quite depressing as at times we were passing through colonies with thirty nesting pairs with not a single egg. The circled areas are colony sites.

Trying to get close enough to see if the birds have eggs without disturbing them is pretty difficult. The white or “spirit” bird is on some eggs but the rest are getting ready to fly.

We also went back up to North point to recount the Gentoo chicks. We had previously counted them but slightly too early as not many had hatched. They are probably my favourite of the penguin chicks

Part of the reason we had counted at the wrong time before was because some of the gentoos had laid much earlier than others. Some of the chicks are massive already!

We also had some unexpected visitors just after Christmas. Some Norwegian krill fishermen came to say hello. Unfortunately as we’re a Research Station they arent actually allowed to visit the base unannounced so this is Matt seeing them off. We did manage to chat to them for a wee while and allow them to photograph the elephant seals.

Snow petrel nesting not far from base. Despite all the focus on Penguins there are some other amazing birds on Signy.Elephant seals wrestling. Elephant seals are a bit gross on land but its great watching them carry on in the bay outside the front door.

Posted in alastair rose, ali rose, Antarctica, BAS, British Antarctic Survey, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide, Field Guide Antarctica, Penguin, Signy, Signy Research Station, South Orkney Islands, Uncategorized Also tagged British Antarctic Survey, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide, Gentoo, Gentoo chick, Penguin chicks, Signy, Signy Research Station, South Orkney Islands, Southern Giant Petrel |

Signy Research Station

Dec

2018

by aliirose | 1 Comment

The island of Signy was first named on a chart in 1912 and by 1945 the precursor to the British Antarctic Survey was actively looking for somewhere to site a base in the South Orkney islands. There was briefly a hut at Cape Geddes on nearby Laurie Island before the Signy Research Station was built in 1947. As with a lot of these bases this one has gone through many permutations over the years from housing up to thirty wintering staff to its current status as a summer only base with only seven of us. Before the BAS base at Signy the island was heavily used by whalers in the early 1900s and much evidence remains from this period, the wrecks of various ships, pumps and pipes for fresh water and of course enormous skeletons from some of the whales. The whale populations have never recovered from this period – a whale sighting would now be a special event on Signy though the catch data from 1920-1930 shows forty four thousand Blue whales and thirty two thousand Fin whales were caught between the South Orkneys and South Shetlands.

Signy remains significant today due to the long running data records and the fact that so many animals visit these islands. When the various animals arrive and choose to breed shows simply what is happening as global warming affects the planet while the exact reasons remain complex and hard to study. With less sea ice every year the breeding cycle of the Antarctic animals gets earlier and species that previously bred further north now do so as far South as the South Orkneys. Fur seals are a good example with only one sighted in 1949 and 13,000 sightings a year by the 1980s along with the first recorded pups.

I’m going to attempt here to answer some of the common questions posed by friends and family about life on a small base.

Sørlle house, the main building of Signy Research Station. Captain Petter Sørlle was the first to produce a chart of the islands and named Signy island after his wife Fru Signy Sørlle. Left to right – our labs, offices, living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms are all contained in this building. The base is pretty small!

The weathers not usually like this but it is an awesome view when you step outside the front door. When people wintered at Signy they would travel across the sea ice to Coronation island to climb the peaks. We have a single person travel limit (about 2 kilometers) and a two person travel area (the rest of the island).

Pit room. The bedrooms are tiny and there is something slightly funny about sleeping in a bunkbed as a grown up but generally you only go in your pit room to sleep anyway.

Darts match in the living room. The kitchen joins this on the left of the image. This room is used as a dining room, living room, cinema, pub etc etc. We’re actually playing one of the other bases here via skype. Iain (far left) is updating the score while the camera is on the dart board. The connection between bases isn’t really good enough to speak but the video is just good enough to check if the other team is cheating. L-R Iain (facing away), Fabrizio, Tim, Tom, Matt and Jim

The two most important documents on base. On the left is the Earlies and Lates rota. If you’re on earlies you get up at 6am, check the generators and the water production and make bread. You are then also responsible for providing the evening meal. The blue sections are when there are low tides which in turn affects some of the travel area. Lates means you have to stay up till midnight and do a final walk around of base turning things off. On the right is the weather forecast. It is surprisingly accurate here – the big green bits are cloud cover and the purple sky scrapers are precipitation.

While we all have our own job roles on base its common to help each other with bigger tasks or if you finish what you’re doing early in the day. So – who am I with and what do they do?

Matt (Station Leader) (with Tim to the right). Matt works as a carpenter in the UK but has been the Station Leader at Signy for 13 years as well as numerous other seasons at other stations. Photo taken during one of the Saturday morning training sessions – how to fix stoves and lanterns.

Tom (Carpenter/Builder) – works in the UK as a carpenter and formerly worked for BAS during the Halley VI move in 2016/17. Tom and Jim are working this season to do up the base as well as work on a couple of the huts around the island. Tom here helping Iain and I move some new stove parts for one of the huts up to the skidoo parked about a kilometre away.

Jim (Carpenter / Builder) – Jim has spent the last eleven summers working on various different BAS bases as well as going to a lot of the historical sites such as Stonington, Horseshoe and Port Lockroy helping keep the buildings standing or “polishing turds” as he would probably put it.

Fabrizio (Scientist) – Works in the UK as a University lecturer and has formerly done a couple of short summer seasons on Signy collecting penguin data. Fabrizio’s area of study is the penguins feeding habits during the nesting season.

Tim (Zoological Field Assistant) – Tim started at BAS the same time as I did in 2015 and wintered on Bird Island as part of a group of four. Tim collects the data for the long running penguin studies along with any other science that needs done.Iain (Facilities Engineer) – Iain works as a gas fitter in the UK but has spent the last three seasons on Signy making sure the generators produce power for the base and the reverse osmosis plant produces drinking water along with a host of other necessary facilities for us to live here.

Gentoo penguin outside base. A few people have asked whether its claustrophobic living with such few people on such a small base. For me, no, not really. It will no doubt be a shock when we get back the real world but in general theres plenty of space on base and you can always step outside the front door and hang out with a penguin or a seal.

Visitors. We do in fact get some visitors through the season. The HMS Protector (The UK’s vessel that patrols Antarctic waters) was first and we will have three cruise ships visit throughout the season. The other part of our role here is to promote Antarctic Science.

The Royal Marines helping us get some building supplies ashore for “Foca” hut on the west coast with the HMS protector standing off. Six marines with Jim, Tom and I then shifted the building supplies from the shore up to the hut by hand.

The Barque Europa. Built in the early 1900’s the Europa is the only traditional boat to cruise with paying guests in Antarctic waters. The guests have to stand watch and help with the running of the ship. The captain was kind enough to give us a tour and I felt like a real pirate with Tom whistling the theme to “Pirates of the Caribbean” behind me. Cruise ship passengers come ashore for a brief tour of base, ask some questions and can then buy BAS merchandise and use the Post Office.

Those that went before. Just over the hill from base is “Cemetery Flats” – a reminder that the South Orkneys have a long (for Antarctica) human history and any hardships we think we might have are really nothing compared to those at the start of the 1900’s

“Unknown Whaler” of the six large crosses at Cemetery flats, three are unknown whalers with the others Norwegian names. Unfortunately the cemetery is now a popular wallow for elephant seals.

“Ginge” one of the longest serving BAS staff at Signy. Ginge sailed back to the Falklands in 1962 after living on the base for years. BAS are now a lot more careful about invasive species! (Photo by Fred Topliffe)

Taken from the old Signy recipe book. “An excellent breakfast dish”!

Saturday night dinner. Our Christmas decorations are up and Jim has taken to wearing a santa hat already. Saturday nights are usually a three course sit down meal with a few drinks. Hard life!

Posted in alastair rose, ali rose, Antarctica, BAS, British Antarctic Survey, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide, Field Guide Antarctica, Signy, Signy Research Station, South Orkney Islands, Uncategorized Also tagged British Antarctic Survey, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide, Field Guide Antarctica, Signy, Signy Research Station, South Orkneys |

What are we doing here?

Dec

2018

by aliirose | 0 Comments

So why are there seven of us on a tiny island for the Antarctic Summer? First and foremost we are here so the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) has a presence in the South Orkney Islands. This is arguable (and I should probably be careful what I write here) but with an Argentinian base on the nearby Coronation island the FCO needs to keep the current BAS bases running every year which in turn helps with the British say in the Antarctic Treaty. Science probably comes equal to that and on Signy science means penguins. The colonies studied on Signy have the longest data sets of any in Antarctica and they continued to be monitored every year. Along with the penguins there is also a vast amount of other bird life, seals and mosses and lichens. Understanding what is happening to the various species in Antarctica over time gives an insight into what is happening in the larger environment.

So seeing as lots of people have asked for pictures of penguins, here it is, lots of photos of the wildlife at Signy.

Flying the flag at Signy Research Station, Coronation island behind. If you’d like to have a virtual wonder around Signy Research Station click – here

At signy we have three types of penguins – Adelie, Chinstrap and Gentoo.So can you spot the difference? While this looks like one massive colony there are actually distinct boundaries between groups of birds. Sometimes this is birds of different types (this is Adelies and Chinstraps) and sometimes just different groups of the same bird.

People love penguins – I think this is because we find some of their actions endearing and somewhat humanlike – they mate for life, they return to the same colony they were born in to have their chicks and the male and females take turns on the nest and going off to feed. They also have very little fear of humans and look funny when they walk!

Tim (the Zoological Field Assistant) has two main study colonies – one of Adelies and one of Chinstraps. In these colonies he has 100 nesting pairs that he checks every two days. He checks each nest for number of eggs and/or chicks. When the chicks are born they will get weighed and their diet sampled as well. Above – Iain (facilities engineer) recording the numbers as Tim shouts them out.

Recording at the Adelie colony.

Adelie penguin posing for the camera. Its hard not to imbue animals with human traits. If Adelies were humans they would probably be the village idiot, constantly wondering around, falling over, stealing stones from each others nests and looking quite lost.The ecstatic display. At times is hard to imagine penguins showing emotion but this does seem to be a display of pure love and affection – perhaps another reason everyone loves penguins so much. It usually starts with a slight bow to each other , sometimes twice, there heads almost touching and then they bob and weave there heads either side of each other dipping down as low as there middles. They then look at each other with there heads close together before looking away as if to check that no-ones noticed. A pair of penguins might stop and do this every few minutes if they are both at the nest at the same time.

Chinstraps on the nest. The chinstraps are slightly smaller than the Adelies and don’t seem to do quite so much aimless wondering around.Chinstraps standing around in their pairs. This has changed now with one of the pair permanently on the nest.

Gentoo penguins. The Gentoos are a tiny bit bigger than the Adelies and a lot more skittish. They also nest further away at the North point of the island. While the two main study colonies on the Gourlay peninsular get counted every two days the other colonies get counted every couple of weeks.

Is that meant to be one chick or one egg? Iain checks his numbers with Tim after another counting session.

We also record all seals that we see and in February all of the staff on base will be involved with the annual seal census counting every seal on the island over a few days. Above – it can sometimes be hard to work out what type of seal it actually is (these are Weddell Seals)

Leopard Seal. These are the absolute killing machines of the Southern Ocean and actually responsible for the last fatality at BAS in 2005. This one was hauled out just below some Adelie colonies having a rest.
No doubt what type of seal it is when you see a Leopard seal close up.

Elephant seals – the one everyone loves to hate. These are enormous animals and they love getting around the BAS bases, keeping you up at night burping and farting. The bull elephant seals are enormous and can grow to weigh about four tons. These adolescent elephant seals have found a nice wallow amongst the crosses of some Norwegian Whalers a short walk from Base. While ridiculous and disgusting on land they are amazing animals with the ability to dive to around 4 km in depth while shutting down their brains, operating on a sort of “auto pilot”.

Elephant seal pup and its mother. Pretty much the cutest of all baby seals its hard to imagine it growing into a full size one!

Fur seal trying to scare me off. Fur seals are really the only thing we have to watch out for on land. They look and behave a bit like an angry Doberman and if they do manage to bite you the wound would be pretty dirty. Sleeping, they look just like rocks and then leap into action either making a big fuss or making for the sea.

Southern Giant petrel – There are also lots of other bird species on the island other than penguins.

Cape Petrels in the water at North Point.

Iain looking down on the Gourlay peninsular on a rare blue sky day.

If seven people seems a lot just to count some penguins here is brief run down of our jobs. While everyone has set responsibilities its very normal to help each other depending on work schedules etc.

Matt – Station Leader. Deals with the running of the base, Comms and the bigger picture

Iain – Facilities Engineer. Keeps us in Electricity and Water

Jim and Tom – Carpenters/Builders. This year fixing the base and and the huts.

Tim and Mike/ Fabrizio – Zoological field assistants. Mike and Fabrizio change over this weekend after a visit from the HMS protector. They have both ongoing science and sometimes other data collection for other papers and PHD students.

Me – Field Assistant/ Field Guide. Basically anything to do with being out “in the field” from training to helping with data collection to keeping the huts restocked with food and fuel.

Other blog posts coming soon – Life on base (with better photos of the team) as well as more about the Base and the huts and of course some more penguin photos (the first chicks just hatched in the last couple of days).

Posted in Adelie Penguin, alastair rose, ali rose, Antarctica, BAS, British Antarctic Survey, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide, Field Guide Antarctica, Gentoo, Signy, Signy Research Station, South Orkney Islands, Uncategorized Also tagged British Antarctic Survey, Elephant Seal, Elephant Seal Pup, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide, Gentoo, Leopard Seal, Penguins, Signy, Signy Research Station |

The Ernest Shackleton and Signy Arrival

Nov

2018

by aliirose | 0 Comments

We were on board the Ernest Shackleton for two days before setting off South with Signy Research Station as the first stop. Ive spent a fair amount of time at sea before including yachts on the Wild Coast of South Africa and various tall ships in the South China sea and the North Atlantic and I’ve rarely been seasick. This was all about to change.

Onboard the ship passengers are still referred to as FIDs though there is no longer a “King Fid” declared as there was in the old days of BAS staff going south (Spikes book “In the shadow of Ben Nevis” has a great description of how it was for BAS Staff going south in the 1960’s). Initially I had been a bit put out by us being the first stop as it would have been a good excuse to see the other BAS island bases “Bird Island” and “King Edward Point” on South Georgia. Within a few hours at sea I had changed my mind. By the first meal I was feeling pretty rough and heard one of the crew comment “It can’t be rough yet – the FIDs are still showing up for food” – sure enough the only thing I managed to show up to after this point was a few very quick meals and the various safety briefings. The hardest thing about this journey is really that there isn’t much to do even if you are feeling well. There is some basic exercise equipment in the hold, a tv lounge, a smoking room and a general lounge or as I did you can just lie in your cabin and stare out of the porthole.

Arriving in the South Orkneys I was relieved to see only open water and no sea ice. With sea ice present it would have been up to me and the Station Leader to organise the relief of the ship over the ice – testing thicknesses etc. In a fragile sea sick state this could have been quite the test. In fact all we had to do was wait for the crew of the Ernest Shackleton to get there tenders ready, struggle into our dry suits and head to the base.

Jim and I’s cabin on the ship. These are sometimes shared by four people. Luckily for me I had the top bunk so could easily see out of the porthole

One of the less rough moments when I managed to go to the bridge. The Shack is known for her corkscrewing motion and the fact that she rolls 30degrees. (That horizon is meant to be straight!)

A really exciting briefing. (Biosecurity I think)

My favourite view. I was able to lie in my bunk and watch a film on my laptop as long as I alternated between the porthole and the screen every couple of minutes.

Lifeboat drills on the first morning at Sea.

This is the last season that BAS plan on using the Ernest Shackleton. With the new ship currently being built the Shack will end her service next spring and the James Clark Ross the following year. This calendar on one of the decks shows the progression from two to three ships and down to just the “Sir David Attenborough” and finally it sinking in 2021 (bottom right).

Looking a bit pasty but very ready to get off the ship. After three days at sea I was ready to leave my cabin!

First view of the South Orkneys

Jim and a big pile of cargo ready to go ashore.

The Ernest Shackleton out in the bay as another blizzard rolls in.

Having not been lived in for eight months the first job was removing the shutters off the window and getting the base habitable (to be sure that we wouldn’t have to back to the ship that night!)

Various ships crew and staff from other bases came ashore to help dig out the base and unload cargo.

The most important cargo was the last off. I’m holding a case of Glenmorangie and was happy to see Dalwhinnie 15yr old and some Talisker 57deg North come off as well. Hopefully it lasts us!

The fresh food that came ashore will be all we get until the next time the ship comes in mid January. Every piece of fresh food has to be inspected for any wee beasties that might have hitched a ride. Above – Tim and Mike (Scientists) inspect the cauliflower and remove a few tiny caterpillars.

Taking the Skidoo around to the other side of the island. The Shack was only with us for a few days so it was important to make the most use of their tenders while we could. It felt pretty strange to be putting a skidoo onto a boat and taking it to somewhere I’d never been.

One penguin, two penguins, three penguins….. Tim doing his first of many penguin counts. Tim, Mike and I made a quick visit to the main penguin colonies on the Gourlay peninsular on the second day. This will be Tims main focus for the 5 months and part of my job is to help him. (Dont worry – lots of penguin shots to come!)

Its definitely spring here. The South Orkneys are at 60deg South so gets roughly the same daylight hours as Orkney in the North of Scotland (59deg North). It is a little colder here month by month however due to not having the gulf stream.

Signy Island. Home for seven of us for the next four months. The base is on the peninsular in the middle of the East coast (tiny black dots) You can view a pdf version of this map here.

Next blog – life on base and why we’re here.

Posted in Antarctica, BAS, British Antarctic Survey, Ernest Shackleton, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, mountains to the sea, mountainstothesea, Signy, Signy Research Station, South Orkney Islands, Uncategorized Also tagged Antarctica, British Antarctic Survey, Ernest Shackleton, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide, Field Guide Antarctica, Signy, Signy Research Station, South Orkneys |

Heading South

Nov

2018

by aliirose | 0 Comments

Its now a week since I left home, slowly making my south for another season in Antarctica. Traveling with the British Antarctic Survey is always slow and dates and times constantly change around you as you travel, making for lots of confusion and frustration along with a lot of time to read your book. The changeable nature of traveling south is even more pronounced when traveling by ship to the island bases of South Georgia, Bird Island and Signy, where I will be spending the next four and a bit months. The travel might be slow but is always interesting and this season even more so for me getting to travel through the Falklands.

I’m not great at understanding much about somewhere till I get to visit and while I had obviously heard of the Falkland Islands growing up I really know nothing about them other than they were “owned” by the UK, they weren’t very big, they were always windy and there was a war fought over them when I was a kid. Since working for BAS I had also become aware that they were a major stepping stone for personnel going to work in Antarctica. BAS staff are still sometimes referred to as FID’s (Falkland Islands Dependants).

Stanley Post Office. When wandering around the Falklands a lot of it feels very British and then you turn a corner and see a penguin.

I had never really grasped why Margaret Thatcher had sent the British Navy to the Falklands after the Argentinians invaded in 1982. It makes more sense in Stanley where the people are so proud to be British and there’s a statue of Thatcher in the high street where shes heralded as the person that came to the Falklands rescue. In a recent referendum 99.7% of the Falkland islanders voted to stay under British Sovereignty. There was one person who voted against!

For those of us heading South the falklands is an 18hr flight in a Military Airplane via Cape Verde from Brize Norton near Oxford. Military planes have loads of leg room and a box of food is thrust at you every two hours but unfortunately theres not 500 films to watch on your own personal screen.At one end of Stanley high street is a statue of Margaret Thatcher, at the other a statue made from the jaw bones of two blue whales. This has stood since 1933 (with a bit of restoration) and is hard to believe that these could have come from any animal alive today.

Sort of British and sort of not. British style town houses with tin roofs in Stanley

The only sign that you’re outside one of the most popular pubs in the Falklands. Its very hard to tell whether a building is a shop, pub or someones house as there’s very little to tell them apart.

Black- Crowned Night Heron at Gypsy Cove.

Obviously with a major war having been fought on a tiny island there’s old ordnance all over the place. The gun that guarded the mouth of Stanley harbor is looking pretty old now.

I spent a day wondering in the hills above Stanley. I’m told this weather is pretty rare in the Falklands but it was perfect weather for climbing!

Its definitely windy! A wander along Berthas beach with some other BAS staff showed endless sand dunes and a few penguins.

Sort of like the UK and sort of not. A gentoo penguin casually sauntering past some geese and a sheep.

Boarding the Ernest Shackleton in more normal Falklands weather.

We (the 7 of us going to Signy) should be spending four days on the Shackleton along with some staff headed to the other island bases.

Where is Signy? Signy Research Station is a Summer only station in the South Orkney Islands, 600km from the Antarctic peninsular. More people have heard of the South Shetland Islands (closer to the peninsular) as they contain Elephant Island where Frank Wild was left with some of Shackleton’s men when he set off for South Georgia after the failure of the Endurance expedition.

While the Ernest Shackleton is an Ice Class vessel (not an Ice Breaker) she is known to have a fairly bad roll in heavy seas. I thought the statement “If you suffer from motion sickness however slight this ship will make you ill” pretty funny at the initial brief but when we set sail tomorrow it might be a different story!

Posted in Antarctica, BAS, British Antarctic Survey, Ernest Shackleton, Falkland Islands, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide, Field Guide Antarctica, Gentoo, Signy Research Station, South Orkney Islands, Stanley, Uncategorized Also tagged Alastair Rose, Ali Rose, British Antarctic Survey, Ernest Shackleton, Falkland Islands, Field Guide Antarctica, Stanley |

Halley Christmas

Jan

2018

by aliirose | 0 Comments

A bit late on Decembers blog! I’ve had a really varied season so far with the biggest difference getting to spend time at BAS’s other Antarctic Research Station – Halley VI. Halley has been in the news a lot over the last couple of years as some previously dormant cracks started opening up in the Brunt Ice Shelf inland from the station. Last year a huge team of Engineers, Drivers and support staff moved the main modules to the other side of the crack (known as the Chasm) only to discover there was another crack (Halloween Crack) even further “inland”. Work continues at Halley this season with a lot of monitoring of the various cracks, readying the base to survive the Antarctic winter without staff and and attempt to fully automate all the long term science that happens.

From a Rothera perspective Halley is the place that all the fuss is made about while the science and field work happens from Rothera. From a Halley perspective Rothera is not the real Antarctic. The main difference for me is that you get bacon rolls for smoko at Halley

At the start of December I spent a lot of time flying around the Ellsworth Mountains with Ian (Pilot) and Ben (Engineer) sorting out more science sites. The views of the mountains were amazing as was getting to stay in the “hotel” at Union Glacier.

Mt Vinson – the highest peak on the continent (4892m) Ben working at one of the sites south of the Ellsworths. The first few sites were al uphill from the plane and involved lugging batteries to and from them. A couple of these sites were at about 8000ft. With the lower air pressure in Antarctica they feel more like 12000ft so its pretty knackering dragging car batteries behind you. Tough place for a lunch stop.Enormous crevasses on the approach to the Union Glacier skiway. Ben walking back to our tent on the guest side of the Union camp. It was great to check out the setup here and catch up with some friends. Flying again – As field guides we spend a lot time in the aircraft. Fellow field guide Julie knitting away on the long flight from Rothera to Halley.
Halley VI. The original Halley Base was started in 1956 with the most recent incarnation being commisioned in 2006. The original four bases were snowed in and the staff lived in them underground. Both Halley V and VI were designed to raised to deal with the snow accumulation. I’ve often wondered why you dont see many pictures of Halley from the air. I think part of the reason is that its not a particularly exciting view but also that a lot of attention is focused on the space age modules. The view from above shows the vast amount of infrastructure needed to keep the base running. Above – Halley modules in the centre with the various vehicle lines, container lines, accommodation and garage modules. The lines at the top of the photo are enormous windscoops leading to the “hinge zone” where the Brunt ice shelf meets the continent. Classic Halley view. Christmas day – Doug climbing in Halloween crack. Mark (FG), Doug (Air Mech) and Olly (Pilot) snuck off on Christmas for a quick climb in Halloween crack. Having to ski-doo there, set up the ropes, abseil in etc meant there was only time for a couple of climbs each but a great way to spend Christmas! Some things are the same on Christmas day the world over – lots of washing up!. (Though I’m not sure Marks Hawain shirt and flip flops are standard) Straight after Christmas it was back out into the field for me. I joined Neil at Bluefields depot and then moved to a Depot in the Shackleton Range.Filling in the days with igloo building. Rob (who switched with Neil) came to join me while I did constant Weather observations for the aircraft. 10 days of staring at clouds, drinking tea and reading.

Back to Rothera in the next couple of days and then back into the field for a couple of weeks before heading home.

Posted in alastair rose, ali rose, Antarctica, British Antarctic Survey, Climbing Antarctica, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide, Field Guide Antarctica, Halley Research Station, mountains to the sea, mountainstothesea, Mt Vinson, Uncategorized Also tagged Alastair Rose, Ali Rose, Antarctic Science, Antarctica, British Antarctic Survey, Ellsworth Mountains, Field Guide, Field Guide Antarctica, Halley Research Station, Halley VI, mountainstothesea, Mt Vinson, Shackleton Range, Union Glacier |

Digging Season

Nov

2017

by aliirose | 0 Comments

I’m back at Rothera. It slowly occurred to me over the summer at home that working in Antarctica didnt have to be a one off and an email from the Field Operations Manager as I boarded a plane to Tanzania offering me a couple of months work was too big a temptation. It feels great to be back at Rothera helping train new staff, eat amazing meals, go skiing after work and of course do lots and lots of digging.

This season I am doing a variety of work for BAS both from Rothera where I was for my 18 month contract and also at Halley on the Brunt Ice shelf. The first part of my season is focused on Instruments. This is based from Rothera with trips between a day and week to service, relocate or replace instruments that record Glacial Re-bound, Ice shelf movement or the weather. As a Field Guide my job is to help the pilot spot crevassing and a good landing spot, help access the site (deciding to rope up or not, to use skis or not or just to wander on over) and then help with any digging. If the trip is overnight the Field Guide also sets up camp and sorts food and water out while the Pilots/scientists/engineers are doing their work.

First up a few photos from some training etc around Rothera.

This summer there is a large focus on training at Rothera. I have learnt things this summer that I should have known two years ago when I first started. One of the main things has been sharing knowledge with the pilots who we spend a lot of time with. Above – a group of field guides staring at a plane at the ski-way above Rothera. This was aborted due to high winds in the end but the end of a training exercise in how to lay out Ski-ways in the field and on safe loading of Aircraft.

The high winds were quite obvious above the Stork hills.

New Field Guide, Tom Lawfield practicing crevasse rescue with the added complication of unconscious people (the green bag behind him) and pulks. All done from the safety of the sewing loft!

Blair carefully digging up a seismometer a few kilometers from base. Science gear weighs a lot and even being able to drive Ski-doos to within about a kilometer of this site it probably took us the best part of two hours for Blair, Ben and I to get everything onto the pulks and tow it back up the glacier.

Elephant seal cleverly blocking the two doors I use most on base – Accomodation on the left and “Fuchs” the field guide office and store on the right.

More training. Fuchs being used by some of the fire team to practice blind searchs.

Instrument work.

Where I’ve been in the last week. The good thing about instrument work is getting to lots of places. The bad thing is spending lots of time in the aircraft.

First up I did a day with Ben (Electronics Engineer) and Ian (Pilot) to the Welch Hills and Traverse Mountains a short flight south of Rothera. These sites were in a spectacular location a short flight down the peninsular

Old depot – new science. While at the second site we were also meant to remove an old depot. We had originally thought that the depot was American but on opening the manfood box we realised it was British. (The marmite is the giveaway!) This food was pre- use by date but some of it was manufactured in 1970. The chocolate still tastes great but we werent brave enough to try anything else.

Ian towing another sledge of junk back to his plane.

Next up I flew up to the Larsen C ice shelf with two glaciologists. Above – even for one night in the field with 4 people theres a lot of kit!

Science on the Larsen C. The larsen C has become well known in recent years after the collapse of the Larsen B iceshelf in 2002. Recently the largest Iceberg ever recorded (the A68) broke off the Larsen C. BAS personnel now have to have a plane with them at all times while working on this Iceshelf.

A68 Iceberg edge. One of our tasks was to photograph the A68 Berg which is reported to be the same size as Wales or London depending who you ask (A bit like saying “as deep as the grand canyon” it doesnt really mean anything other than its really big).

Flying along the edge of the Berg.

Hammer plate Seismic’s on the Larsen C, Emma manning the computer and Jim hammering the plate. There are Geo phones every 10m for 200m which measure the shock of the hammer down the line. I’m assured that this is world class science.

The tent all set up for the night. I have been trialing a new tent made by “Arctic Oven” which is massive but not as heavy as the traditional pyramid tents. With Jim and Emma on the Larsen they were so busy with hammering etc they actually only came into the tent for a nap at 7am! I estimated that Jim had done over 500 hits with the sledge hammer and walked over 10km through the night. (I did help out till midnight and then made then tea at 3am and checked on them at 5!)

Coming in to land at Union Glacier. Straight after being on the Larsen C for two days I flew further onto the continent via Fossil Bluff, Sky Blu and Union Glacier (The field camp of the commercial operator A.L.E). Myself, Alex (Electronics Engineer), Dave and Mark (both Pilots) flew out to the Foundation ice stream to pick up some instruments that will be redeployed later this season.

I dont have many photos of the Foundation Ice stream as the weather was chasing us. Above – Dave getting a quick nap after some digging before another flight.

My next big chunk of work will be at Halley on the Brunt ice shelf a base that has been in the news a lot this year. Should be interesting!

Posted in A 68 Berg, A68 Larsen C, Antarctica, BAS, British Antarctic Survey, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Field Guide Antarctica, Larsen C Ice Shelf, Uncategorized Also tagged Antarctica, Field Guide Antarctica, Larsen C, NERC, Rothera Research Station, Twin Otter |

The Other Side of Winter

May

2016

by aliirose | 0 Comments

Its easy to keep taking photos of the stunning scenery here, the icebergs, glaciers and snow-clad mountains but for this month I have tried to focus on life on base and to try and answer some of the questions that have come my way. With no sensible way of getting anyone away from the base we are all “stuck” here until the first plane comes in October. A few people have asked why BAS need people to overwinter in Antarctica. There is some marine science done from Rothera over the winter either diving from boats or through holes in the ice. Obviously if you need some people to be on the base the list quickly grows – if theres diving there should probably be a doctor and boatman, these people will need basic amenities like water, electricity, housing etc, these people will then need to be cooked for and so on. The list quickly grows. Another reason is so that Britain continues to have a say in the Antarctic treaty. With these things in mind there are 21 of us based at Rothera over winter, Station Leader, Chef, Doctor, Communications Manager, four Field Assistants, Dive Officer, Three Marine Scientists (I am sure I will get some abuse for not actually knowing there job titles!), Boatman, Two Plumbers, Chippy, Sparky, Mechanic, Generator Mechanic, Electronics Engineer and Meteorologist. Most people work 9-5 Monday to Friday with everyone taking turns to do a day of “gash” (cleaning) and to cover for the Chefs day off. While we work core hours if something needs done then people just get on with it and its pretty normal to have a few people helping on big jobs (like digging out doorways).

The Flag lowering ceremony. As the most senior person on base (his tenth winter in Antarctica!) Dave lowered the British flag last week to mark the last time the base will see direct sunlight for a few weeks. Our days are getting shorter by 7-8minutes every day making the lack of daylight really noticeable from one weekend to the next. The flag will be raised again by the youngest person on base in about two months time.

Its not all pretty sunsets. Ben walking to work (9am) last week as the base was slammed by rain, sleet, snow, winds up to 50knots and temperatures up to +9degrees C. Even walking between buildings can be pretty hazardous.

Digging out one of my sledges. All the field assistants have at least two sledges of kit for their winter trips stored about 4km from base with easy access to the mountains. While Antarctica is the driest continent, we do live in one of the places that gets the most precipitation and digging out your sledges can be a fairly common activity.

School. As there are a variety of skill sets throughout the staff people occasionally run sessions so that you can learn about their trade. We had a “Doc School” the other day with Doc Tom (right) showing us how to use the X-ray machine. In Toms case its important to run these sessions in case of a major incident so that people are able to assist him (or fix him!). I have no idea why Calum, Ben and Adam look so serious!

The real men of Antarctica. Nelly the Generator Mech (left) and Maybell the Mechanic (right) using the D4 to move some fuel around. With the ice we have all around the base just now even this machine was sliding around.

With the long nights we have to find ways to amuse ourselves. Friday after work drinks in the Genny shed for a change of scene.

Tom (Doctor) and Rob (Plumber) in serious discussion at one of many fancy dress evenings. (this was a masquerade ball)

Table Tennis – probably the most popular Antarctic sport. I would guess that there a few of us currently playing a minimum of about 7hrs of table tennis a week complete with a leader board and a handicap system.

Sea Ice. The sea ice of lack of sea ice is a daily conversation on base. This affects whether the boats can go out or whether people will be travelling on the ice to cut holes and dive from the ice itself. Both the boating or the sea ice could involve any number of people from base.Sea ice party on the ice in the early afternoon.The tag out board. One of the things I struggle with most down here is the lack of freedom to go where and when you want. The tag out board is used to show your movement around various places both on the base and off it. The white tags are everyones names (mainly tagged into their rooms) and you move your tag to where you are about to go while also recording it in a book with the time you expect to be back. The four tags in the bottom right are “in the field”- basically out on a winter trip. You can also see a VHF in the bottom right. We all carry VHF at all times.Lewis (Chef) helping out Matt (Mechanic) in the kitchen even on his day off.

More digging. You should just be able to make out Nelly digging out the Hangar doors. In the winter the Hangar is used for most of the big machinery. Theres always something needed dug out.

There are no simple jobs. Almost everything you do seems to involve digging stuff, moving stuff, finding and starting a skidoo and usually asking for help on the VHF. Hector (Chippy) loading old plasterboard into the skip in the hangar.

The good news is most of those boxes are cheese. The bad news is we had to move them all from the freezer to count them and then put them back again. Lewis (chef), Malcy (Station Leader) and Al (Field Assistant) in the middle of the count.

Some people do work at random times. John (Meteorologist) has to send weather balloons up three mornings a week as well as doing Met Observations at three hourly intvervals. John releasing a weather balloon after I had messed up the first one by dropping recording instrument (the little white box).

Marine Science happens all year round and the marine team usually needs crew to come out on the boats with them. Saz (left) and Emily (right) being helped by Octavian (Electronics Engineer). Helping on the boats is a great break from normal routine but can be incredibly cold with no direct sunlight.Permanent sunset from the boatThe Winter Team. Back row from Left – Dave, Al, Calum, Emily, Saz, Octavian, Rob, Nelly, Lewis, Bradders, Maybell, Hector, Tom. Front row from Left – Malcy, Ben, Chris, John, Kate, Adam, Me and Jesus.

Posted in alastair rose, ali rose, British Antarctic Survey, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Rothera, Rothera Research Station, Rothera Winter Team, Uncategorized Also tagged British Antarctic Survey, Field Assistant, Field Assistant Antarctica, Rothera Research Station, Rothera Winter 2016 |

Mountains to the Sea Photography

Tag Archives: BAS

Second Call of the Shack

Dirty Penguin

Christmas and Hogmanay

Signy Research Station

What are we doing here?

The Ernest Shackleton and Signy Arrival

Heading South

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Digging Season

The Other Side of Winter

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