UK Antarctic Research Station to Close Due to Huge Ice Cracks

The British Antarctic research station is closed due to massive ice crack in Antarctica.

According to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), big ice cracks in Antarctica presents “a complex glaciological picture” which causes concern about the shelf on which the Halley VI Research Station is located.

A new crack has been observed on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf and therefore BAS is forced to close the station and evacuate staff before the Antarctic winter, which runs from March to November.

BAS says there is currently no risk for the staff, but scientists are aware of the difficulties that might come in evacuating people during the winter and therefore they have decided to close the station as a precautionary measure.

“Changes to the ice, particularly the growth of a new crack, presents a complex glaciological picture that means that BAS scientists are unable to predict with certainty what will happen to the ice shelf during the forthcoming Antarctic winter,” the BAS said a statement.

“As a precautionary measure, BAS will remove its people before the Antarctic winter begins.”

Halley VI station serves as a platform for atmospheric and space weather observation. Recently, the station has become an important centre for studying solar activity and its possible impacts on Earth. A series of hi-tech pods have been mounted on hydraulic legs and skis and they are moved further inland time to time, to escape the shelf edge where icebergs are calved into the ocean. BAS is currently relocating these pods about 23 km to a new site, and now only a last pod is left to shifted.

“What we’ve decided is that given the unpredictability, combined with our inability to do anything about it in winter – no aircraft in the continent, it’s dark, it’s very cold; all those kinds of issues – then actually the prudent thing to do is withdraw our staff, close the station down in a controlled manner and then go back in next summer,” BAS director of operations Captain Tim Stockings told BBC News.

According to Stockings, the team would go back once the Antarctic winter is over, in November, and analyze the situation. Further action would be taken based on the conditions at that time.