Halley VI Research Station

Halley VI Research Station, Halley VI, Brunt Ice Shelf, Caird Coast

Position: Lat. 75°34'5"S, Long. 25°30'30"W
Occupied: 15 Jan 1956 to present

Halley Research Station is an internationally important platform for global earth, atmospheric and space weather observation in a climate sensitive zone. Built on a floating ice shelf in the Weddell Sea, Halley VI is the world’s first re-locatable research facility. This award-winning and innovative research station provides scientists with state-of-the-art laboratories and living accommodation, enabling them to study pressing global problems from climate change and sea-level rise to space weather and the ozone hole – first discovered at Halley in 1985.

Aerial view of Halley VI Research Station on the Brunt ice shelf Antarctica

Space weather data captured at Halley VI contributes to the Space Environment Impacts Expert Group that provides advice to Government on the impact of space weather on UK infrastructure and business.

Data gathered by scientists at Halley as part of European collaborative projects such as SPACESTORM. By generating more accurate space weather forecasts, this science is helping to reduce the impact of space weather events on satellites.

In 2013, Halley was made part of the network of 30 stations across the globe that form the World Meteorological Organization’s Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme, becoming the 29th in the world and 3rd in Antarctica. Together, these stations provide reliable information on the chemical composition of the atmosphere and how it is changing.

Measurements of ozone, as well as meteorology, have been made at Halley since it was established in 1956. This long-term data enabled British scientists to discover the hole in the ozone layer in 1985.

At Halley typical winter temperatures are below -20°C with extreme lows of around -55°C. There is 24-hour darkness for 105 days per year.

The state-of-the-art research facility is segmented into eight modules, each sitting atop ski-fitted, hydraulic legs. These can be individually raised to overcome snow accumulation and each module towed independently to a new location. This was required during the 2016/17 Antarctic summer season, when BAS successfully relocated Halley to its new home on the Brunt Ice Shelf. Operational teams spent 13 weeks moving each of the station’s eight modules 23 km upstream of a previously dormant ice chasm.

The central red module contains the communal areas for eating and socialising, while the blue modules provide accommodation, laboratories, offices, generators, an observation platform and other facilities. Halley also has a snow runway and supports a number of summer field science activities.

The last of the sun for a a hundred days as Halley VI enters winter and 24hr darkness — The last of the sun for a hundred days as Halley VI enters winter and 24hr darkness

Location

Halley sits on the 130 metre-thick Brunt Ice Shelf. The ice shelf flows slowly out onto the Weddell Sea, where chunks of ice ‘calve’ off as icebergs.

As the ice beneath Halley flows away from the mainland, the risk of calving increases. To predict calving events, the ice shelf movement is monitored via seven GPS sensors known as the ‘Lifetime of Halley’ network.

Each sensor uses a dual-band GPS receiver to accurately determine its position and dynamics, before reporting this back to a base station at Halley VI. The data is used to study the strains and tidal flexes in the ice shelf, so that we can predict when and where future calving will take place.

Operational since 2012, Halley VI is made up of a series of eight interlinked pods. Built on skis, the pods can be towed across the ice by specialist heavy vehicles. Being able to move the research station is vital because of its site on the Brunt Ice Shelf, which is constantly moving towards the Weddell Sea.

Monitoring revealed in 2015 that Halley was downstream of a widening crack in the ice shelf (known as chasm 1). As a result, the research station was relocated to a new, safer site in 2016/17.

Working at Halley

Working in the Polar Regions is challenging. The success of our science and operations depends on a wide range of people who are experts in many disciplines. Halley accommodates up to 70 staff during the summer (late December to early March) and has previously had 16 over-wintering staff or ‘winterers’. In January 2017, as a safety precaution, the Director of BAS took the decision not to winter a team at Halley following the detection of new and unpredictable ice crack on the Brunt Ice Shelf. This will remain the case for the foreseeable future.

Following the decision to operate Halley VI as a summer-only station until the Brunt Ice Shelf stabilises, BAS scientists and engineers are this season continuing to work on automating instruments at the station to enable ongoing data collection throughout the Antarctic winter when the station is unoccupied. These instruments ran successfully over the 2019 winter. The Halley automation project consists of a micro-turbine power supply and datalink to a suite of autonomous scientific instrumentation around the station and on the ice shelf.

Walking back to Halley Station in a 30 kts blow

Climate

Temperatures at Halley rarely rise above 0°C although temperatures around -10°C are common on sunny summer days. Typical winter temperatures are below -20°C with extreme lows of around -55°C. Check out today’s Halley weather data here.

Winds are predominantly from the east. Strong winds usually pick up the dusty surface snow, reducing visibility to a few metres.

Approximately 1.2 metres of snow accumulates each year on the Brunt Ice Shelf and buildings on the surface become covered and eventually crushed by snow. This part of the ice shelf is also moving westward by approximately 700 metres per year.

One of the reasons for the location of Halley is that it is under the auroral oval, resulting in frequent displays of the Aurora Australis overhead.

These Aurora are easiest to see during the 105 days when the sun does not rise above the horizon.

Purpose

Halley Research Station is designed to provide UK polar researchers and their collaborators with access to state-of-the-art facilities for studying a wide range of disciplines, particularly in the field of atmospheric sciences, space weather and glaciology.

Research

Science at Halley VI provides vital information for a global understanding of space weather, ozone depletion, polar atmospheric chemistry, sea-level rise and climate change. Since it was first established in 1956, meteorological and atmospheric data has been continually collected at Halley.

Situated in the auroral zone, Halley is ideally placed for research into space weather. Data from Halley is used to generate space weather forecasts that help to protect satellites, more than 1,000 of which now orbit the Earth to provide our telecommunications, finance and banking infrastructure.

Halley is one of the 30 stations across the globe that make up the World Meteorological Organization’s Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme. Together, these stations provide reliable information on the chemical composition of the atmosphere and how it is changing.

Meteorological and atmospheric data have been continually collected at Halley since 1956, providing an invaluable long-term record. Meteorological observations are made throughout the day. Temperature, humidity, sunshine, pressure, wind speed and direction data are collected from automated instruments, while observers still collect data on clouds and weather phenomena such as diamond dust, halos, mirages and the Aurora Australis.

These observations are sent via geostationary satellites to meteorological centres where, together with observations from across the world, they are used to produce accurate weather forecasts and for climate change research.

Ozone measurements have also been made at Halley since 1956, long-term data that enabled British scientists to discover the hole in the ozone layer in 1985. Their discovery led to the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement banning ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Remote scientific equipment, set up for long-term monitoring, is housed in a number of cabooses around the perimeter of the site, which also contains numerous aerials and arrays for studying atmospheric conditions and space weather.

As well as being ideally sited for studying space weather, Halley is a unique natural laboratory for research into human space flight because of its isolation and long periods of darkness. Keen to discover how such conditions might affect astronauts on long space flights, staff at Halley are taking part in experiments with the European Space Agency. This project supports UK Government policy (2015) for the human exploration of space.

Together with colleagues at the French-Italian research station Concordia, they are using a cockpit simulator used to train astronauts in docking at the International Space Station to find out how well these skills are maintained during long periods of darkness and isolation, information that will help keep future astronauts safe.

Automated technology

Automated equipment, such as automatic weather stations and ice movement monitoring sensors, collects data year round. BAS is expanding the amount and scope of its automated technologies.

A micro-jet turbine is being developed (2017) to provide 15kW-level mains power through the winter. This will enable many more of the science experiments at Halley to run year-round. This level of power will keep an internet connection to the station and the equipment throughout the winter months. Engineering and technology teams are working on a process for automating a number of instruments, notably an automatic version of the Dobson spectrophotometer for monitoring ozone in the stratosphere, and some automated air chemistry experiments.

Engineers are conducting trails (2017-18) of a methanol fuel cell which, along with solar panels, will give around 100W of power that can be used to power individual experiments with no dependencies on other infrastructure. Initially this will be used to power an alternate method of measuring stratospheric ozone.

A number of stand-alone instruments are being deployed to use deep field, these tend to be relatively small solar and wind powered instruments. These include three Very Low Frequency radio receivers (associated with space weather) and an atmospheric chemistry instrument.

Contact

David Hunt

Station Operations Manager /Station Leader

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Station designed by: Hugh Broughton Architects
Engineered by: AECOM
Built by: Galliford Try

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Wildlife

Many types of wildlife are found at Halley, including:

emperor penguins
snow petrels
giant petrels
diving petrels
storm petrels
white-chinned petrels
South Polar skua
Weddell seals
Minke whales
Orcas (killer whales)
See whales and seals and other birds to find out more details about the wildlife found near Halley.

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Halley VI Research Station