Engineering Design Consultants

The Challenge of Building in the Antarctic

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The five stations run by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), which has carried out most of the British scientific research work on and around the Southern Continent over the last 60 years, operate in some of the harshest conditions to be found on Earth.

Of the three BAS stations in Antarctica itself - Halley, Rothera and Signy - Halley is the furthest south and experiences the severest weather conditions. Temperatures almost never rise above zero and are commonly around -10°C at the height of summer and below -40°C in winter. About 1.2 metres of snow falls every year, and winds blow at up to 150km per hour.

The station - founded in 1956 and named after the astronomer Edmund Halley - sits on the Brunt Ice Shelf, which is attached to the Antarctic land mass but floats on the sea, travelling about 400 metres westwards a year. This location, about ten miles from the Weddell Sea, gives frequent clear views of the Aurora Australis, particularly during the three winter months when the sun does not rise above the horizon. Studies at the Halley station are particularly important in relation to ozone depletion, atmospheric pollution, sea level rise and climate change. International efforts to curtail production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are linked directly to work at Halley.

The station is operational throughout the year and has around 16 over-wintering staff, with a further 50 staying during the summer.