Thursday 31 January 2019

Back at Halley

Back at Halley, but not quite the same as the one I left 5 years ago. The glaciology of the Brunt iceshelf forced us to move the station to the safe side of an emerging crack. So the whole station was moved 23km from its last site to a new one known as Z6a. Unfortunately the glaciological situation was sufficiently complicated that we decided that it wasn't prudent to leave people here in the winter when getting them out would be near impossible. See https://www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/115024/ - much of the reason I am here is to oversee our response to not having staff here in winter but still wanting to keep the scientific productivity of the station, more on that later. The modules are powered and we are working and having some rec in them, although we haven't commissioned the wet services or the fire suppression so we are eating and sleeping in other (less salubrious) buildings.
Here are the modules - still looking amazing:
 We however are based in and around the summer overflow accommodation building known as the Drewry.
Where we eating, washing etc, and some people are sleeping. Here's the dinning area.
I am actually sleeping outside in what is known as an emergency caboose, and although it means I have to walk from building to building if I want a wee or to wash my teetch etc, the emergency cabooses are very cosy and above all quiet. Here are two views on my temporary home.

Inside there are four sleeping 'coffins', I am bottom left.
Inside my 'coffin' is really neat and cosy.
But the far end of the container is less organised.
Inside the modules, things are pretty much as they were when I was last here. The bar has new sofas.
The bar is empty because we don't have any alcohol or soft drinks this season. The cracks in the Brunt iceshelf mean we can't get a ship in, so everything we are using is already here or we have brought in by plane (which is eye wateringly expensive, so is limited to absolute essentials). Another change since I was last here is the addition of a dart board.
Nice.





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