Very Few Penguins at Windy Bay (or 'What Happens When the Sea Ice Breaks Up')

The base has been trying to organise visits to the King Emperor penguin colony at Windy Bay. This is an annual trip and one that is greatly enjoyed by all. Indeed, it is a privilege to see these birds and their offspring in their own habitat.


The management attempted to organise visits over the weekend but the past couple of weekends have seen high winds in excess of 20 to 30 knots (known as a 'blow'). The golden rule is that if the wind is blowing at over 14 / 15 knots then walking on the sea ice is prohibited. Sea ice is only tens of centimetres thick and a good gust mixed with a decent sea swell will easily break it up.


A few weeks ago our wintering chef, Chris Walton, got the opportunity to visit Windy Bay and see the King Emperor penguin colony for himself. He took some amazing snaps some of which I included in an earlier post. The photograph below demonstrates the size of the sea ice sheet but only hints at the overall size of the penguin colony.

Windy Bay and the Penguins by Chris Walton

Two heavy blows later and the sea ice has been broken up with a majority of it being dispersed out to sea. 

What's left of Windy Bay after a couple of good Antarctic blows

This is an unmitigated disaster as far as the penguin colony is concerned. With the chicks stranded on sea ice and floating free, the parents will not be able to locate their young and the chicks will eventually die of starvation or become easy prey for Leopard Seals.

Small groups of penguins will become stranded on the broken sea ice

This is the third year running that the ice has broken up early. One can only guess at how this has affected the colony.

The sea ice will continue to break up into smaller and smaller pieces

Thanks to BAS pilot Doug for affording us this amazing photo opportunity

Travelling on the Ice

Ryan tasked me with replacing a faulty item on one of his Lifetime of Halley (LoH) GPS systems. The LoH project measures the movement of the Brunt Ice Shelf by logging GPS data at various remote GPS sites that are strategically placed across the Brunt. The Brunt is constantly moving in a westward direction as more ice spills off from the Antarctic continent. The fresh water ice sheet then rolls over the sea until the sheet can no longer support itself and bits break of it's edge as small icebergs or major 'calving' events occur. Calving events are when very large chunks of the ice sheet break off and form 'super bergs' which can be the size of a small European country.

A small iceberg in the making

Some of these super bergs break off of the Ross Ice Shelf and can subsequently float around the Antarctic continent for up to ten years before heading north to melt away. One berg that recently passed by the Brunt was the size of Wales (PLEASE NOTE: I would like to point out that Wales is indeed a small European country in the geographical sense but it is obviously very large in stature). Another smaller berg threatened to collide with the Brunt last winter but, in the end, this berg made it's way around the ice shelf to the great relief of everyone at Halley.

There was a problem with the power sub-system at 'Site I' so I was dispatched to have a look and swap out the offending unit. Not surprisingly BAS don't just give me a skidoo and then say, 'Off you go, Andy'. Instead, I was placed in the caring and incredibly capable hands of the Field Assistant department who dispatched one of their highly trained and capable field assistants to guide me to the location.

The field assistants are masters of Antarctic field craft and have trained eye for spotting potential dangers such as crevices. The FA's are utilised in many areas, not just for getting technicians to their broken experiments. It is their responsibility, for example, to gauge the thickness and safety of sea ice. Very important considering that in a few days BAS's very own Royal Research Ship, the Ernest Shackleton, will be mooring at the edge of the Brunt on sea ice. It's cargo will then be unloaded onto this ice which is only tens of centimetres thick. Sno-Cats will then move cargo such as laden containers and fuel from the sea ice on to the Brunt. This process is called 'Relief' and this restocking of Halley occurs annually and is, as you can imagine, a very risky business. Whilst everyone involved in Relief contributes to the safety of the operation it is the FA's who determine what and where is safe on the ice.

Field assistants come in many flavours but they generally come pre-prepared in a package that, I've been told, women tend to appreciate very, very much. My field assistant appeared to be chiselled out of granite and went by the name of Ed McGough. It was Ed's responsibility to get me to and from Site I alive and well.

Ed and Susan prepare the sledge

Before we ventured out Ed and the Antarctic medical legend, Dr. Susan prepared the sledge that would carry our emergency supplies and other important emergency equipment that would be required should the Antarctic weather take a turn for the worse and leave Ed and I stranded on the ice.

The sledge deserves special mention. It is a design that has changed very little since the first adventurers successfully implemented a method of carting equipment and supplies around on the ice. New super-duper cutting edge alloys and materials have been tried but have failed to better the leather bound wooden design.

So with the sledge prepared and the appropriate kit donned we headed out to Site I.

Ed offering a friendly Field Assistant wave at the 4km marker. Newsflash: Major hurricane-force winds have just hit the South African coast

The site was about 40km away and took us around a feature of the Brunt called The Rumples. As explained earlier, The Brunt Ice Shelf is an ice sheet of fresh water that spills off of the continent onto the sea. It then travels over the sea. At certain points the sea is so shallow (or the ice sheet is so thick) that the sheet comes into contact with the seabed. When this happens the shelf above this point slows down as it grinds it's way over the obstruction. The ice that does not come in contact with the bottom continues at it's original speed.


This differing speed of the ice causes stress fractures (or crevices) and ice is fractured, broken and forced up as the shelf grinds over the sea bed in a glacial kind of way. The Rumples is a very dangerous terrain but one I hope to visit during my winter trip next year. Site I is fundamental to the understanding of the ice flow around The Rumples so it was important to get this GPS site back up in running as soon as possible.

The Rumples (photographs don't do them justice)

The trip to Site I was long and uneventful. The terrain is easy going and whilst the Skidoo eat up the kilometres with ease the Antarctic terrain is no motorway and it takes a continuous physical effort to stay with the Skidoo as it rolls over the sastrugi. These ridges and grooves are formed on the snow surface by wind erosion and the deposition of snow and ice during high wind events or 'Blows' . Once they are frozen solid they can be very hard and tough (like my friendly field assistant Ed).


As I travelled over the terrain it just reminded me how much like a desert the ice sheet and Antarctica is. Water water everywhere…..and still essentially dry as a bone. The snow is so dry one can't even make a snow ball. Apart from the birds and the seals at the coast there is no other animal that is welcome here. There is no way to sustain life. It is barren and essentially lifeless. Mother Nature is fully in control here and she has decided to provide very little. Without support and supplies, human beings would quickly perish.

I set to work as soon as we arrived at the site and the simple job of replacing the faulty unit was completed quickly and without any issue.

Working on Site I

Once completed we reported back to base that the job was done and that we were heading back. We were to far away to use the hand held VHF radio so Ed broke out his Iridium satellite phone. The size of the unit took me by surprise and the quality of the call was surprisingly clear. Ed informed me that this far south the Iridium was at the edge of it's field of operation but, even then, I found the call was crystal clear although acquiring and maintaining a good signal was a challenge.

Even on the sat-phone, Ed looks the part....

Whilst I just look like I'm ordering some flowers

With the job done we headed back to base.

Ed flexes his field assistant muscles. Ed's so hard and tough that he's actually able to slam a revolving door shut!

Many thanks to Ed for getting me to and from Site I in absolute safety and for a cracking day out to boot!

Not Quite the 'Jet Set'….but far, far Better!

As far as servicing / maintenance trips out on to the ice are concerned the summer science season has been a bit light this year. Usually, the outgoing meteorological winterer and the incoming met winterer spend some time in the field servicing remote deep field experiments (or digging them out of the snow). One experiment that has sites all over Antarctica is the Low Powered Magnetometer (LPM) experiment. This experiment can accurately measure the Earth's magnetic field in all three dimensions. The Antarctic LPM's are part of a worldwide system that constantly monitors the Earth's geo magnetic field. Interestingly, the Earth's magnetic field exits the ground at the Antarctic latitudes as opposed to running parallel to the ground at the equator. 

The Earth's magnetic field looks something like this....except more complicated

The battery of LPM's in Antarctica measure the Earth's magnetic lines of flux which aids scientists in understanding how the Sun's magnetic field and it's solar wind affects space in the vicinity of the Earth. By utilising the Antarctic LPM's scientists can predict with certainty the occurrence of an auroral event. These events occur when a solar flare interacts with the Earth's magnetic lines of flux at the poles. These events are better known as the Aurora Australis in the southern hemisphere or the Aurora Borealis in the northern hemisphere.

Like the GPS experiments the LPM sites are remote but unlike the GPS sites they are autonomous. The information is logged at the site and once a year a team is sent out to the sites to recover the logged data and prepare the experiment and the site  for another years worth of logging. It goes without saying that a spade and lots of digging are a pre requisite. Unfortunately for Richard and myself a team from BAS's station on the Antarctic Peninsula, Rothera,  were despatched to service a majority of the LPM sites. But we did have one scheduled and it would require the help of BAS Airlines to get there.

BAS's De Haviland Twin Otter being prepared at Halley International Airport

The British Antarctic Survey own four Twin Otter aircraft which are put to work in Antarctica during the summer season. As Doug our pilot put it, the De Havilland Twin Otter is the Land Rover of the sky. Rugged and tough, with a short take off of approximately 1200 feet, a set of snow ski's fitted and a capable pilot at the helm these 'bush' aircraft can get in and out of remote Antarctic sites with relative ease. Some of the BAS aircraft are fitted with scientific instrumentation which enable them to undertake groundbreaking, cutting edge Antarctic science whilst others are purely for carting teams and equipment around the continent.

Go-Go juice being applied prior to take off

Our trip was  taking us approximately 130 miles south south east of Halley to the LPM site called Buzzard. Buzzard is about 750 miles form the South Pole and this will probably be as close as I would ever get to the pole. The LPM servicing would take about fifteen minutes and the bonus on this trip was that there would be NO DIGGING. The powers that be had decided that the site didn't need raising out of the snow this year which means that Buzzard will be an absolute joy to dig out next year.....I'm looking forward to that already. With Doug at the helm he would be flying myself, Richard and my fellow winterer, James to Buzzard.


Every effort is made to get all wintering staff a trip on the Twin Otter. A nice touch, I'm sure that you will agree. Also, each of the passengers takes a turn in the co-pilots seat where they will have the opportunity to take the controls if and when conditions allow. Co-piloting is an important and required role on longer Antarctic trips.

BAS pilot Doug at the controls

The takeoff from Halley International Airport was smooth and the short take off really took me by surprise. It was really, really short! Before I knew it the ski's were off the snow and we were turning SSE to our destination. James was upfront for the outward journey. Doug informed us that the landing may be very rough and that if there wasn't good contrast at the site then we would just be turning around and heading right back to Halley.

Contrast, in the snowbound Antarctic context, is when the cloud diffuses the sunlight to such an extent that no shadows are thrown by the relief of the land. Because everything is white with no colours to help define shapes etc. the land appears to become flat and featureless. If a pilot can't determine what the condition of his prospective runway is he wont be able to tell if he's going to be putting his aircraft into a big hole carved out by the wind. Potentially a very dangerous scenario.

It was disappointing to note that the flight up was in poor contrast. Looking out the Twin Otter window down on to the Brunt revealed nothing but a featureless white sheet. Our luck turned around about ten minutes from our destination when a break in the cloud provided the sunlight necessary to cast shadows and therefore provided the very snow contrast that Doug was looking for. And down we went. It was an exhilarating landing. As far removed from any smooth tarmac landing I have ever experienced. But Doug's a real Antarctic hero (as we all are) and he got the job done with the minimal of fuss.

Twin Otter at Buzzard LPM site

Once the Otter was on the ground we set to work servicing the LPM experiment  by removing the last years' worth of data and setting the experiment up for another year of logging. Snow depth measurements were taken and the site assessed. Once the maintenance and assessment tasks were completed we were heading back in to the air.

Richard servicing the LPM experiment

My turn to sit in the co-pilot seat. Doug was undertaking pre-flight checks when a beautiful Halo appeared. Timed to perfection for our departure. Sun Halo's occur when the sun shines through the ice crystals that form thin, high altitude Cirrus clouds. It was a beautiful sight and we even had a hint of a Sun Dog too. I popped open the co-pilot window and took a few photos. I was closing the window as Doug throttled up the Otter's engines.

Halo with Sun Dogs (the brighter spots which are apparent at 90 and 270 degrees)

The take off was even more exciting than the landing. The 'landing strip' was pretty rough and seemed to offer a bigger challenge to the Twin Otter on take off than it did on landing. With a cool character like Doug at the controls there was nothing to worry about. One big surprising bump later and we were up in the air heading back to Halley.

It beggars belief but BAS let any fool have a go of the Twin Otter

I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as co-pilot. I used to work as a technician on flight simulators so I was comfortable on the sticks once Doug had pointed out how the instruments were laid out. The last simulator I worked on was the Tornado GR1 simulator at RAF Brüggen. It didn't have a visual system so I initially took to flying the Twin Otter by only following the instrumentation. It went well with one minor hiccup when I managed to lose the directional plot entirely. But ex-Tornado pilot, Doug was kind enough to point out that it's still best to look out of the window. After all, the view is what it's all about.

Precious Bay from 7000 feet. The Brunt Ice Shelf joins on to the Antarctic Continent near here

Richard took his turn in the co-pilot seat for the final half an hour. Doug was tasked with undertaking a recognisance of the sea ice off of the Brunt Ice Shelf near Halley. So we spent the last half hour of our flight thoroughly enjoying ourselves as Doug put the Twin Otter through some tight turns and some low flying. This afforded us some fantastic views of the edge of the Brunt Ice Shelf.

The edge of the Brunt from 7000 feet

And a close-up from about 1000 feet

From the Office Window

Strange goings on that I managed to catch on camera from the office window

Thanks to Hugh 'Shuggy' Edmiston for...erm...'verifying' these shots for me.

Science at Halley.....An Introduction

Another week has passed and the handover seems to be going well. I'm now well into my stride with the daily routines. So what am I doing here? What are BAS doing here?

With the new Halley VI build well underway it was decided to run down the science projects at Halley to just the minimum long term experiments. I can only conclude that the manpower required to build the new base modules would limit the Halley V resources (accommodation etc) available to summer scientists and their projects. The Halley VI site, where the Halley VI modules that are currently being constructed at Halley V will eventually be moved to, is currently being prepared for the science that will eventually go in there.

Halley VI Construction at Halley V

So what science is being undertaken during this transitional phase? Well, it's mostly the long term projects that are being continued. These include:

Upper Ozone Measurements. Halley was where the Ozone Hole was discovered by Jon Shanklin et all during the mid eighties. The measurement of the upper ozone levels continues. The latest news from Jon is that this years ozone hole above Halley is very large and is unusually persistent for this time of year. Whilst a global ban on the manufacture and use of CFC's has been generally successful the hole is still getting bigger. Jon estimates that the Ozone Hole will recover by 2070.

The Dobson Spectrophotometer. The gold standard in upper atmospheric ozone measurement don't you know

Ground Ozone measurements are also taken. Whilst upper ozone is beneficial in the way it protects us from UV rays the ozone that occurs at ground level can be detrimental to human health. Ground ozone measurements at Halley help gauge the global mean average of ozone at ground level.

VLF experiments are a very cheap science but incredibly effective. The VeloxNet VLF experiment's prime purpose is to study the structure of the Earth's upper atmosphere. VeloxNet has been running for years and an interesting by-product of the science is that it helps determine the weather in space in so far as how the solar winds or solar flares charge the upper atmosphere. The weather caused by the solar winds and flares can have a detrimental and even damaging effect on Satellites. The information provided by VeloxNet helps satellite operators take the necessary action to avoid damage to their hardware. By chance, Halley is perfectly situated to undertake VLF experiments and when Halley VI goes operational many more flavours of VLF science will be implemented at the new site. I'll be blogging a lot more info about this interesting and accessible science over the coming months.

The very attractive rhombic VLF Antenna and ugly BAS operative

Snow and air sampling. Samples of snow from the surface are taken and sent off for analysis. The air sampling measures greenhouse gases like CO2 and methane which provide a global mean average of those gasses.

With the snow sampling Isotopes of water are analysed. The results allow the scientists to calibrate the readings gleaned from ice core samples.  To explain, ice cores allow scientists to look back at the climate hundreds of thousands of years ago. The deeper the ice core the older the ice. Obviously temperature cannot be measured directly so proxies are used to determine global mean temperature. So hundreds of thousands of years ago the global temperature caused certain isotopes and chemicals to be created. These isotopes and chemical were distributed in the atmosphere and carried around the globe and were subsequently locked in Antarctic ice. These isotope and chemical proxies are then used to determine the actual mean global temperature at the time the ice in the ice core was formed. 

Air Sampling Unit. Packaged into a 'James Bond' style suitcase by Q himself

Unlike temperature, some gases can be measured directly in ice cores as the atmosphere is trapped as bubbles of gas in the ice when the ice is formed. Ice cores demonstrate beyond doubt the actual increase in atmospheric CO2 that has been caused by human activities over the past couple of centuries. The big debate rumbling on between science and commerce is not about whether humanity has contributed to the level of CO2 in the atmosphere but what effect this large increase of CO2 will have on our future climate. Is prevention better than cure? 

In addition to the science there is the meteorological side of the job. Synoptic observations are carried out every three hours and are fed back to the Met Office and other interested parties(universities, other Met offices etc.). This data is input into global and local weather models in an effort to improve predictions. Similarly, the data from the daily weather balloon is fed into global and local models too.

More about the science and meteorology in subsequent posts.

Ice Sheets and Sea Ice….what's the difference?

The Brunt Ice Shelf floats on the sea but it's not sea ice. So what's the difference? The Brunt Ice Shelf is a whopping 110 meters thick as measured below the Halley V site. The ice spills off the continent like a huge flat glacier and makes it's way across the ocean until it reaches a point where temperature can no longer sustain it and huge chunks break off as icebergs and float away. Halley V actually moves 1.5 meters or so every day in a westerly direction as the ice it rests on travels seaward. One day the ice Halley V rests on will break off as an iceberg and the base will float off. As explained last week, the Lifetime of Halley project as run by Ryan Anderson studies the movement of the Brunt Ice Shelf by utilising many remote GPS sites that log their current position down to the centimetre. Collating the results from the GPS sites can provide an insight into the general movement of the Brunt.

Halley V sits on the Brunt Ice Shelf. There be sea 110 meters below!

Sea ice is seasonal ice that forms at the edge of the ice shelf and, as its name suggests, forms when the sea freezes. The sea ice is only tens of centimetres thick and gradually breaks up and dissipates during the summer months especially when the wind starts to pick up. The picture below, taken by our wintering chef Chris Walton, shows the edge of the Brunt and the sea ice on which the penguins breed.

The edge of the Brunt at Windy Bay by Chis Walton

On a Personal Level

A very busy week this week and to be honest it flew by. The handover continues and Richard has left me to get on with the daily routine tasks. Once these are second nature we can turn our attention to undertaking reports, managing stock and the more involved tasks etc. 

More Morrison engineers flew into Halley this week. This requires that we, the Met people, undertake extra observation for the aircraft (AirObs) which was all good experience. These specialised weather reports inform the pilot of basic weather facts like temperature, wind speed and direction, snow contrast conditions and the visibility of the horizon (or Horizontal Visibiltiy).

It was my turn for melt tank duty this week. There's always digging to be done in Antarctica and to get fresh water for the base the large melt tank has to be shovelled full of snow twice daily. The snow is melted and the water is filtered prior to use. I was privileged and more than happy to be shovelling away on the morning melt tank shift. This activity is a good way to work the sleep out of your eyes and get the old heart going.

All in all, I have been settling in rather well. The team spirit is alive and well here at Halley and everyone has been very welcoming. One can't ask for more than that.

It goes without saying that I miss my wife and kids terribly. But, ultimately, this is all for them and this investment WILL be worthwhile. Love you Sharon, Katie and Alec xxxxx

Chris Walton's Visit to Windy Bay to See the Penguins

A selection of pics that Chris took whilst visiting the King Emperor penguins on the sea ice at Windy Bay. The penguin chics are growing quickly with some being nearly as big as their hard worked parents. Enjoy!

By Chris Walton

By Chris Walton 

By Chris Walton

By Chris Walton