Science in the Coldest Continent

 

This January I was very fortunate to be able to visit Rothera in Antarctica. I was invited by Nick Owens, the Director of the British Antarctic Survey, to see the fascinating science being done in the coldest, driest and windiest continent. A tiny plane from the tip of Chile took us past the point of no return to land on the UK’s remotest runway where the Rothera research station provides the infrastructure to support a remarkable scientific programme. 

Small groups of scientists leave Rothera on Twin Otter aircraft to land on skis and camp for months in the remote and icy wilderness.  Some of the research involves studying the movement of glaciers and ice-shelves while other projects require extracting ice cores. Bubbles contained within these cores are analysed back in the BAS lab in Cambridge to determine the temperature and carbon dioxide profiles present in the atmosphere hundreds of thousands of years ago.  I camped in a small tent in a howling gale on a glacier (see the picture above) and this gave me an appreciation of just what the BAS scientists go through to get their unique data on climate change.   

The clear sky of Antarctica allows for the observation of unusual phenomena such as how the trails of meteorites can be used to study winds in the upper earth’s atmosphere. This work is done with sophisticated detectors rising above the uninterested seals and penguins gathered below (see the picture).  

 

 We also went out on a small dinghy close to huge icebergs in the freezing Antarctic sea (see the picture below of Nick Owens). In these waters, divers collect bright red starfish and fish which are kept alive by antifreeze proteins, and giant worms which produce special enzymes enabling them to thrive in these extreme temperatures. These unusual marine creatures are studied in the Bonner Laboratory in Rothera.  

The Antarctic Treaty states that you can only be in Antarctica if you are doing science.  Hence the BAS-UK presence here at the base of the South Atlantic is vital.  It is only through a once-in-a-lifetime visit like this that you can realize the dedication and determination of the whole BAS team in bringing home their unique science.