Drum Raising to Windy Bay (or, 'Was I done up like a kipper?')

Meteorological cover is a seven day affair during the summer season so Richard and I organise it between ourselves which one of us will have what day off. It was my turn to work this particular Sunday and, of course, this wasn't a problem. It did mean that I would miss the trip to Windy Bay to visit the Emperor penguins but I was more than happy to take this on the chin as other opportunities would present themselves in due course.

Also on this particular Sunday, Antractic flying legend Doug was leaving Halley with some other Antarctic legends on a scientific endeavour that would take them all the way to the South Pole. So, it would be an Air Ob day. Air Observations are specialised met observations that inform the pilot of low level cloud, visibility and contrast information at Halley V just in case Doug had to turn around and fly back due to poor weather or other issues encountered during the outward journey. These Air Obs continue for a few hours after the aircraft has departed. Unfortunately Doug didn't leave till late in the evening so it was going to be a long day to boot. Again, working in Antarctica, that is the way of things and that is why we are here. Flexibility is the key to everyones success.

Once I had received word from Doug that Air Obs were no longer required I headed for bed.

Monday morning arrived and I was up and about for breakfast when the wintering base commanders both approached me and said that since I had worked a shift the previous day and in doing so had missed the trip to Windy Bay, why didn't I take a trip to the coast with Antarctic medical legend Dr. Mike Ramage and Antarctic machine operator legend Tim Gee. They quietly suggested that whilst travelling to the coast I  could raise a few drums along the way. I eagerly volunteered without giving the 'drum thing' too much thought.

That was an error………..

Antarctic machine operator legend, Tim Gee. Amos Brearly's long lost love child.

Amos Brearly. Landlord of the Woolpack in Emmerdale for 18 years

Antarctic medical legend, Dr. Mike Ramage

I rendezvoused with Tim and Mike at the garage where we picked up a John Deere tractor. I noticed items such as the Antarctic weapon of choice (the spade) and lifting strops and other items that didn't seem commensurate with a trip to the coast to see penguins. I was beginning to realise I was in for a wee bit more than just looking at a few Emperors.

John Deere tractor. A bit heavy handed for a trip to the coast to see some Emperor penguins

The important safe routes from Halley V are marked by empty fuel drums which are referred to as 'drum lines'. Routes from Halley V to Windy Bay, Creek 3 (where the RSS Ernest Shackleton will dock for relief) and the Halley VI site are all marked with evenly spaced out drums that will help travellers find their way if the weather or snow contrast takes a turn for the worst. As snow accumulates the drums become buried. The burried drums are raised to maintain the safe route markers. 

The 'Windy' route is the longest drum line at 22km and Mike and I had the privelege of raising the one hundred or so drums that marked the route. Here, Mike demonstrates the repetitive task that would get us to Windy Bay. Think of this trip as a kind of 'work your ticket' type of arrangement if you will.

Mike lassoes the partially buried drum. Note the previously raised drums disappearing into the distance behind Mike 

Mike informs Tim that he can pull the drum out of the snow with the John Deere

Tim complies and the drum is yanked out of it's hole

Mike removes the strop and resets the drum

There is always some Antarctic spade action to be had. Here Mike beds the drum in with a smattering of snow

Mike is happy. Penguins here we come! Only 90 drums to go! Great!

So, many hours later we arrived at the caboose at Windy Bay. A caboose is a caravan that can sleep a few folk and also contains supplies like food, fuel and outrageously out of date chocolate. Of course one can't just open the door and walk in. No! Unsurprisingly there is Antarctic digging to be done.

The John Deere pulling the caboose out of the accumulated snow

The snow that blocks the way to culinary heaven has to be removed

Once dug out the door can be opened and the treasures which can be found inside can only now be enjoyed. Food supplies for the field are lovingly referred to as 'Man Food'. This is tasty, high calorific dehydrated fare which puts pot noodles to shame. Each Antarctic legend has their own favourites but Tim and I were enticed by a Chicken Balti recipe.

Chicken Balti.....that's what it says on the packet 

Descriptions are necessary as a great leap of imagination is required to tie up the contents with what's written on the packet

Add some hot water

Leave to rehydrate then consume. It is the perfect 'Man Food' as no dishes are generated during the preparation 

Once consumed it was followed by hot coffee and a Dairy Milk chocolate bar that featured retro foil wrapping. Goodness knows how old that was although It was interesting to note that out of date Dairy Milk has a similar texture to a Wispa bar. It also loses it's dark chocolatey appearance and instead sports a white finish that reminded me of the colour that dog poo goes when left on a hot pavement for a few days. It did taste like chocolate though and was melt in the mouth beautiful when melting in my mouth with a mouthful of hot coffee.

Once we were fed and watered we then ambled down to Windy Bay. After the long, never ending dirge of drum raising this would be the icing on the cake. We were quite a distance from the edge when experienced Antarctic hands Mike and Tim warned me that we could go no closer for safety reasons. I had travelled all this way and I couldn't even see the bloody penguins. I could hear them though. I suppose that was something. 

I took a few snaps of Windy Bay and we can now directly compare Windy with the shots taken by our Antarctic chef legend Chris Walton whose images of Windy were taken well over a month ago. Since then the summer temperatures and heavy winds have broken up the sea ice to the extent that it cannot now be seen from our vantage point. Looking at my panorama you can see as you move right along the ice cliff that there is a dark stain just above sea level. This is penguin poo. 

Before the winds came and broke the ice up and blew it out to sea there was an ice ramp from the sea ice up to this point. Penguins had made their way up this ramp and settled there to raise their chicks in what is I suppose a more sheltered spot. Chris's shot features this ramp intact. By comparing the two images one can appreciate how much sea ice has actually been lost and the devastating impact this would have had on the breeding colony.


Click on the images to view full size

The edge of the Brunt Ice Shelf at Windy Bay. Note the brown stain more than half way along the ice cliff just above sea level

The same stain (and the ice ramp) can be seen to the right on the ice cliff. A vast majority of this ice has now been blown out. Courtesy of Chris Walton 

Once we had stood near Windy Bay and 'listened' to the penguins for a little while we headed for home. I spent the journey mulling over the days events and I couldn't help feeling that I had been had….maybe just a wee bit. It was inconsequential really as I had an absolutely smashing day out with Antarctic legends Mike and Tim. Cheers lads!

Just being here is what it is all about

The Raising of Z6 AWS

It would not be an atypical Antarctic day unless one was holding a high quality shovel or spade in their hands and was readying themselves for some higher quality digging action. A large dollop of digging is what it's all about in the frozen continent.


In the grand meteorological scheme of things very little precipitation actually falls at Halley V. The snow that comes in is usually blown in by the wind. To put it simply, large amounts of snow gets moved about and very little actually comes from the sky, well, a lot less than you would maybe imagine.

The blowing snow interacts with and generally builds up around any obstacles that are in it's way. No exposed item is spared this treatment and every year the meteorological experiments have to be dug out and readied for another year of operation. This week it was the turn of the Z6 AWS.


As with any other cool public sector endeavour the vocabulary is Liberally Sprinkled with Indecipherable Abbreviations (or LSwIA if you will). So I better explain this afforementioned abbreviated beauty. The station code for Halley is the very simple letter 'Z'. We reside at Halley V so the code for Halley V is 'Z5'. The new Halley VI base is therefore referred to as 'Z6'.


Whilst the Z6 base modules are being constructed at Z5 the actual Z6 site is some distance away and major work has been under way for a few years to ready the site for the science that will be implemented there and this years imminent arrival of the new modules.

The Z6 site has been monitored for some time by the Z6 Automatic Weather Station. The Z6 AWS and and the Z5 AWS stand alone patiently logging weather data. The resulting data is subsequently analysed, scrutinised and utilised. Unfortunately they are not so automatic that they are able to dig themselves out of the snow so once a year during the summer season they are rescued from their snowy grave and readied for another year of wonderful meteorological autonomy.

There were many personal firsts that awaited me on this trip; my first time to the Z6 site and the first time that I would have the privilege of travelling in a Snow Cat. We teamed up with the Communications team who had the task of installing an HF antenna at Z6. The general plan was that the comms team would help us dig out the Z6 AWS system whilst we the Met team would subsequently sit about and drink cups of tea and coffee whilst the comms team carried out their HF antenna installation…..and that was what did indeed transpire. Result!

So joining us on this trip were Antarctic communications legends Iain Sissons and Emma Philpot. in addition we were also counting on the help of Antarctic medical legend Susan Woodward. With the team ready for some serious snow digging action Antarctic meteorological legends Richard Sands and I were ready and technically prepared to travel the massive 16km to the Halley VI site. A journey that would take an even more massive 45 bumpy minutes in a Snow Cat.

Snow Cat posing with Antarctic medical legend, Susan Woodward

We arrived at the Z6 AWS and were generally surprised that the system wasn't buried deeper in the snow.

Halley VI Automatic Weather Station after a years worth of snow accumulation

Richard set about downloading the AWS data and, with spades at the ready, the rest of us started digging some gurt big 'oles (as they say in Dorset)

The Halley Comms team. The very capable Iain Sissons and Emma Philpot

In fact two gurt big 'oles were necessary; the power system (consisting of a battery box that is charged from a solar panel) had to be raised as had the AWS system itself which consisted of the met instruments and the logging system. Fortunately for us the snow was of a powdery consistency with little ice present to slow us down. So the digging progressed smoothly and quickly. This was in stark contrast to the ice festival that was the raising of Ryan's GPS site. 

Emma digging out the solar panel and battery box

Susan, Iain and Richard digging out the AWS system

The Z6 AWS was raised within about two hours and looked better for it

Z6 AWS raised and ready

The AWS consists of an anemometer which measures wind speed and direction.

AWS Anemometer

Temperature and humidity probes.

Temperature (left) and Humidity (right) probes

And a sonic snow depth sensor which measures snow accumulation over the year.

Snow depth sensor

A data logger which resides in the white cabinet logs the data from the instruments on a minute by minute basis. All this data results in a very high resolution profile of the weather patterns at the Halley VI site. 

All in all another great day of digging with the British Antarctic Survey. Love it! Bring it on! Do you think I'm kidding? Well, witness these happy Antarctic faces:

Happy Susan and happy Richard being happy

Happy Iain happily holding his happy spade whilst being happy too

Happy conquerer of the battery box, happy me

Happy Emma happily having a happy lie down

Smashing!

Grab your spade and take no prisoners!

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