The Last of the Aurora?
Sunrise Behind the Laws
As sunlight now dominates the day and the temperatures gradually warm, it is hard to remember the last day when it was well below -40°C. However, the nights still remain dark and there is even still the occasional auroral display, though the problem is not their rarity but the cloudy skies obscuring the light.
Aurora Over the Drewry
Difficult to capture with still photography is the activity of the aurora as they flicker across the sky and their dynamic nature. Moreover, there is the increasing temptation, when awoken from deep sleep by a knock on the door, as the night watchman has seen a glimmer of light on the horizon, to turn over and fall back asleep. You do so at your peril and invariably miss 'the best display of the winter' so far when it is discussed at lunch the next day.
Moving Auroral Display
The GIF file above is of 5 shots taken over the course of several minutes, long enough for the stars to appear to move across the sky. Even on cloudless night skies without aurora there is plenty to see as the Milky Way cleaves a bright rift in the sky.
Scorpius and the Milky Way Above the Drewry
Inset: the constellation of stars that make up Scorpius (the brightest 'star' is Jupiter), its tail and sting sit deep in the Milky Way
Halley was built as it lies in the auroral zone, which makes it an ideal place to study the upper atmosphere and the interactions between the sun and the earth as solar particles bombard the ionosphere. Most of this science is run from the Piggott platform, while the other major science platform, the Simpson, runs the experiments studying the lower atmosphere down to the snow surface.
Sunrise With A Sun Pillar and the Simpson
The Simpson houses what has to be the most famous bit of science kit on base and as such one of the most exciting- the Dobson spectrophotometer. It was observations made at Halley over the 50 years the base has been here that led to the realisation in the early 1980s that ozone over the Antarctic was at much lower levels during the period of August to October than would be expected, a phenomenon that has come to be known as the ozone hole.
Dave Works the Dobson
Ozone is measured in Dobson units after an Oxford meteorologist from the early 20th century, who was one of the first to recognise the presence of the ozone layer and design an instrument to measure the level of ozone in the atmosphere. The atmosphere, if considered as a vertical column directly up from any point on earth, contains around 300 Dobson Units (DU) of ozone which would be the same as a layer of ozone 3mm thick if the whole column was brought down to the earth's surface.
Andy On the Laws Windtail
Most of the atmosphere's ozone is high up in the stratosphere peaking about 25kms above the surface. It is considerably less dense in the lower atmosphere but ozone here is the subject of distinct research at Halley. The levels of stratospheric ozone fall to around a third of their background levels at around this time of the year, due to a reaction which requires the sun's energy but is catalysed by the products of chlorofluorocarbons amongst other gases, such as nitrous oxide. It is all localised to the Antarctic due to a combination of cold temperatures, particular weather systems and sunlight.
The Laws In Snow
The most relevant local effect is the increased level of UV exposure. Antarctica is already high-risk for the damaging effects of UV but this is exacerbated with sunburn and snow blindness as particular hazards. They are however fortunately rare as everyone uses liberal amounts of sunscreen and sunglasses.
Sunset Looking North From the Laws
Though satellites now provide much of the information with regard to fluctuations in ozone levels, these still have to be calibrated and this is an important part of the work of this and other spectrophotometers dotted around the world. Though there are a couple of instruments which are rotated between the UK and Halley to allow accurate calibration, it is pretty exciting to be in the presence of an instrument that is part of a continuing experiment and observation which has had such a profound effect on the world we live in.
Manhauling to the Laws From the Containers
For though the Montreal protocol has been highly effective in limiting the release of chlorofluorocarbons, the realisation that the ozone hole is a product of man on the environment was fundamental in our awakening to the damage we are doing to the earth. Interestingly, the US Regan administration strongly supported the efforts to reduce CFC production; given that the BAS paper was published in 1985 the protocol came into force a rapid 4 years later. It has been hailed by Kofi Annan as " Perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date ...". This is in stark contrast to other attempts to deal with our effect on the environment, such as the Kyoto protocol, where such support is lacking.
Wrapped Up Warm
Photo thanks to Dean Evans
The most remarkable part of the last few weeks for me has been my 30th birthday. Unfortunately, not a good enough day to visit the penguins but with some decent weather I found myself hanging off the legs jacking the building again.
Celebrating On the Day
The advantage of reaching a small milestone is that you are allowed to celebrate it at least a couple of times and as such, as well as having the traditional fancy dress party on a Saturday night (in my chosen theme of London tube stations), a few hours of digging resulted in a small ice bar to have a few drinks on the day itself. It seemed a rather cool idea to make glasses out of frozen ice at the time, unfortunately at -35 the ice froze to the lips of anyone who tried it; I am still nursing the wounds.
London Party
I was released from my cake-making duties this time and was treated to a spectacular creation by Ant and Tamsin featuring a large proportion of the base's supply of food colouring. With the first of the post-winter trips already off base, the whole place seems a bit empty particularly at meal times and in the bar. However, it is a glimpse as to how next year's team will feel as there will only be 11 of them compared to the 18 of us on a good day.
Blowing Out the Candles
Around and about, there is plenty of work to be done, particularly as almost all of the science is being put on hold for a couple of years while Halley VI is being built, which means packing up both the science platforms. There is an Augean task of clearing paperwork and instruments that have built up over the lifetime of Halley V. Bad weather has also had its toll on science kit including destroying one of the blimps that was being used to study ozone depletion in the lower atmosphere.
Clearing Out the Simpson
Dave gets to work in the Met lab
It is not only the science platforms that need getting ready for the summer, given the unusually large number of people intended to be on station during the building period that will encompass the whole of the summer (and several summers hence), there is a lot to be done to start getting the whole base ready to deal with housing, feeding and looking after the 120+ people will swamp what has been our home for most of the year.
Sune Getting Field Kit Ready
Nonetheless most of the evening activities which started shortly after the departure of the last ship have continued, with people touting their various expertise in French, Spanish and German to small groups in weekly language lessons. In addition, Thursday and Friday evenings on the platform are dominated either by the samba band or Halley's own rock band rehearsing. Many people take refuge either on in outlying building or nurse a pair of ear defenders, for one of the great flaws with all main platform is the relative absence of sound-proofing in most of the walls. Conversations, let alone loud drumming, can easily be heard through many of the thin partitions.
Samba Drumming to Celebrate the Notting Hill Carnival
6 of us work the drums and the lens- photo thanks to Dave Evans
As the winter dwindles away thoughts turn to plans for returning home. The Halley Doctor usually spends the Halley summer (the period from the first call of the RRS Shackleton at Halley until the last call), as the ship's medical officer while it is in the Southern Ocean, while the incoming Halley Doctor leaves their job on the ship, having provided medical cover all the way from the UK, to cover the base at the earliest opportunity (as I did on January 1st this year).
Learning to Splice
Eye-splicing skidoo link lines for field work
With the increased number of people on station this summer and a large amount of building work, there will instead be two of us on station for the whole of the summer with another doctor covering the ship. As a result, I will either fly or sail out of here sometime in March at the end of the season, arriving in Cape Town in either March or April time, dependant, as ever, on a whole host of factors. Notably, staying on station for the summer has had little effect on when I am likely to return to the UK as compared to working on the Shackleton.
Mourning the Destruction of the Blimp
L to R: Brian, Dave Tom, Alex, Tamsin, Kirsty and Jules
It will be exciting being here over the summer, as not only will the new station start to take shape as it is built here before being towed (in future years) to its eventual home but there will also be considerably more science projects in the field as compared to last year. As ever, it will be busy but I suspect very different from last summer.
Sastrugi At Windy Bay
As sunlight now dominates the day and the temperatures gradually warm, it is hard to remember the last day when it was well below -40°C. However, the nights still remain dark and there is even still the occasional auroral display, though the problem is not their rarity but the cloudy skies obscuring the light.
Aurora Over the Drewry
Difficult to capture with still photography is the activity of the aurora as they flicker across the sky and their dynamic nature. Moreover, there is the increasing temptation, when awoken from deep sleep by a knock on the door, as the night watchman has seen a glimmer of light on the horizon, to turn over and fall back asleep. You do so at your peril and invariably miss 'the best display of the winter' so far when it is discussed at lunch the next day.
Moving Auroral Display
The GIF file above is of 5 shots taken over the course of several minutes, long enough for the stars to appear to move across the sky. Even on cloudless night skies without aurora there is plenty to see as the Milky Way cleaves a bright rift in the sky.
Scorpius and the Milky Way Above the Drewry
Inset: the constellation of stars that make up Scorpius (the brightest 'star' is Jupiter), its tail and sting sit deep in the Milky Way
Halley was built as it lies in the auroral zone, which makes it an ideal place to study the upper atmosphere and the interactions between the sun and the earth as solar particles bombard the ionosphere. Most of this science is run from the Piggott platform, while the other major science platform, the Simpson, runs the experiments studying the lower atmosphere down to the snow surface.
Sunrise With A Sun Pillar and the Simpson
The Simpson houses what has to be the most famous bit of science kit on base and as such one of the most exciting- the Dobson spectrophotometer. It was observations made at Halley over the 50 years the base has been here that led to the realisation in the early 1980s that ozone over the Antarctic was at much lower levels during the period of August to October than would be expected, a phenomenon that has come to be known as the ozone hole.
Dave Works the Dobson
Ozone is measured in Dobson units after an Oxford meteorologist from the early 20th century, who was one of the first to recognise the presence of the ozone layer and design an instrument to measure the level of ozone in the atmosphere. The atmosphere, if considered as a vertical column directly up from any point on earth, contains around 300 Dobson Units (DU) of ozone which would be the same as a layer of ozone 3mm thick if the whole column was brought down to the earth's surface.
Andy On the Laws Windtail
Most of the atmosphere's ozone is high up in the stratosphere peaking about 25kms above the surface. It is considerably less dense in the lower atmosphere but ozone here is the subject of distinct research at Halley. The levels of stratospheric ozone fall to around a third of their background levels at around this time of the year, due to a reaction which requires the sun's energy but is catalysed by the products of chlorofluorocarbons amongst other gases, such as nitrous oxide. It is all localised to the Antarctic due to a combination of cold temperatures, particular weather systems and sunlight.
The Laws In Snow
The most relevant local effect is the increased level of UV exposure. Antarctica is already high-risk for the damaging effects of UV but this is exacerbated with sunburn and snow blindness as particular hazards. They are however fortunately rare as everyone uses liberal amounts of sunscreen and sunglasses.
Sunset Looking North From the Laws
Though satellites now provide much of the information with regard to fluctuations in ozone levels, these still have to be calibrated and this is an important part of the work of this and other spectrophotometers dotted around the world. Though there are a couple of instruments which are rotated between the UK and Halley to allow accurate calibration, it is pretty exciting to be in the presence of an instrument that is part of a continuing experiment and observation which has had such a profound effect on the world we live in.
Manhauling to the Laws From the Containers
For though the Montreal protocol has been highly effective in limiting the release of chlorofluorocarbons, the realisation that the ozone hole is a product of man on the environment was fundamental in our awakening to the damage we are doing to the earth. Interestingly, the US Regan administration strongly supported the efforts to reduce CFC production; given that the BAS paper was published in 1985 the protocol came into force a rapid 4 years later. It has been hailed by Kofi Annan as " Perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date ...". This is in stark contrast to other attempts to deal with our effect on the environment, such as the Kyoto protocol, where such support is lacking.
Wrapped Up Warm
Photo thanks to Dean Evans
The most remarkable part of the last few weeks for me has been my 30th birthday. Unfortunately, not a good enough day to visit the penguins but with some decent weather I found myself hanging off the legs jacking the building again.
Celebrating On the Day
The advantage of reaching a small milestone is that you are allowed to celebrate it at least a couple of times and as such, as well as having the traditional fancy dress party on a Saturday night (in my chosen theme of London tube stations), a few hours of digging resulted in a small ice bar to have a few drinks on the day itself. It seemed a rather cool idea to make glasses out of frozen ice at the time, unfortunately at -35 the ice froze to the lips of anyone who tried it; I am still nursing the wounds.
London Party
I was released from my cake-making duties this time and was treated to a spectacular creation by Ant and Tamsin featuring a large proportion of the base's supply of food colouring. With the first of the post-winter trips already off base, the whole place seems a bit empty particularly at meal times and in the bar. However, it is a glimpse as to how next year's team will feel as there will only be 11 of them compared to the 18 of us on a good day.
Blowing Out the Candles
Around and about, there is plenty of work to be done, particularly as almost all of the science is being put on hold for a couple of years while Halley VI is being built, which means packing up both the science platforms. There is an Augean task of clearing paperwork and instruments that have built up over the lifetime of Halley V. Bad weather has also had its toll on science kit including destroying one of the blimps that was being used to study ozone depletion in the lower atmosphere.
Clearing Out the Simpson
Dave gets to work in the Met lab
It is not only the science platforms that need getting ready for the summer, given the unusually large number of people intended to be on station during the building period that will encompass the whole of the summer (and several summers hence), there is a lot to be done to start getting the whole base ready to deal with housing, feeding and looking after the 120+ people will swamp what has been our home for most of the year.
Sune Getting Field Kit Ready
Nonetheless most of the evening activities which started shortly after the departure of the last ship have continued, with people touting their various expertise in French, Spanish and German to small groups in weekly language lessons. In addition, Thursday and Friday evenings on the platform are dominated either by the samba band or Halley's own rock band rehearsing. Many people take refuge either on in outlying building or nurse a pair of ear defenders, for one of the great flaws with all main platform is the relative absence of sound-proofing in most of the walls. Conversations, let alone loud drumming, can easily be heard through many of the thin partitions.
Samba Drumming to Celebrate the Notting Hill Carnival
6 of us work the drums and the lens- photo thanks to Dave Evans
As the winter dwindles away thoughts turn to plans for returning home. The Halley Doctor usually spends the Halley summer (the period from the first call of the RRS Shackleton at Halley until the last call), as the ship's medical officer while it is in the Southern Ocean, while the incoming Halley Doctor leaves their job on the ship, having provided medical cover all the way from the UK, to cover the base at the earliest opportunity (as I did on January 1st this year).
Learning to Splice
Eye-splicing skidoo link lines for field work
With the increased number of people on station this summer and a large amount of building work, there will instead be two of us on station for the whole of the summer with another doctor covering the ship. As a result, I will either fly or sail out of here sometime in March at the end of the season, arriving in Cape Town in either March or April time, dependant, as ever, on a whole host of factors. Notably, staying on station for the summer has had little effect on when I am likely to return to the UK as compared to working on the Shackleton.
Mourning the Destruction of the Blimp
L to R: Brian, Dave Tom, Alex, Tamsin, Kirsty and Jules
It will be exciting being here over the summer, as not only will the new station start to take shape as it is built here before being towed (in future years) to its eventual home but there will also be considerably more science projects in the field as compared to last year. As ever, it will be busy but I suspect very different from last summer.
Sastrugi At Windy Bay
