Get your skis on . For the second year in a row , 14 scientists from the British Antarctic Survey ( BAS ) have had to abandon their research research lab following reverence of another grow crack in the ice shelf .
The BAS Halley VI Research Station is a cutting - edge weather place that observes global Earth , atmospheric , and place conditions . It lives on the 150 - metre - thick ( 492 foot ) float Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica , a clime - sensible zone ideal for make these transcription .
As if live on a floating methamphetamine hydrochloride shelf in the middle of nowhere was n’t dangerous enough , the BAS Halley VI Research Station is now precariously between two growing chicken feed gap , as you could see in the image gathered from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite below .
The growing “ Halloween Crack ” was discern by glaciologists , weirdly enough , just before Halloween on October 25 , 2017.Since last twelvemonth , this snag in the ice has almost doubled in length . The research place is also faced with a pair of water ice chasms to the south that appears to have grown over the last 7 month . This forced the base to edge 23 kilometer ( 14 mile ) inland at the end of the late Antarctic summertime .
" What we are witnessing is the power and unpredictability of nature , ” Professor Dame Jane Francis , Director of BAS , said in astatement .
“ The safety of our stave is our antecedency in these circumstances . Our Antarctic summertime inquiry operation will go on as plan and we are confident of mount a firm uplift of personnel should fracturing of the ice shelf occur , ” she bring .
Even without the threat of these cracks , living as a scientist on the Halley VI Research Station is pretty tough . During their winter , between March and November , they ’re present with 24 - minute duskiness , bitterly low temperature , and utmost closing off .
“ However , because admission to the station by ship or aircraft is super difficult during the winter calendar month of 24 - minute shadow , extremely low temperatures , and the frozen sea , we will once again take the precaution of shutting down the station before the 2018 Antarctic wintertime ( March - November ) begins , " said Professor Francis .
Hopefully , the scientists ' study wo n’t be too disturbed . The BAS design on deploy these investigator to other south-polar enquiry station or its HQ in Cambridge , UK .
you could watch some beautifully shot drone footage from 2016 of the Brunt Ice Shelf ’s crack below .
