The
British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is
the United
Kingdom
's national Antarctic
operation and has an active role in Antarctic affairs. BAS
is part of the
Natural Environment
Research Council (NERC) and has over 400 staff. It operates
five
research stations, two ships
and five aircraft in and around Antarctica. BAS addresses key
global and regional issues. This involves joint research projects
with over 40 UK universities and more than 120 national and
international collaborations.
History
Operation
Tabarin
was a small British expedition in 1943 to establish
permanently-occupied bases in the Antarctic. It was a joint
undertaking by the
Admiralty and the
Colonial Office.
At the end of the war it was renamed the
Falkland Islands Dependencies
Survey (FIDS) and full control passed to the Colonial
Office. At this time there were four stations, three occupied and
one unoccupied. By the time FIDS was renamed British Antarctic
Survey in 1962, 19 stations and three refuges had been
established.
The Antarctic explorer Sir
Vivian Fuchs
was Director of BAS from 1958 to 1973.
Bases
Bases in Antarctica
Rothera Research Station
The BAS operates five permanent bases in the
British Antarctic
Territory:
Of these bases, only Rothera and Halley are manned throughout the
year. The remaining bases are manned only during the Antarctic
summer.
Bases on South Georgia
The BAS
also operates two permanent bases on South Georgia
:
Both South Georgia bases are manned throughout the year.
Other sites
BAS headquarters
The
headquarters of the BAS are in the United Kingdom, in the
university city of Cambridge
, on Madingley Road
. This facility provides offices,
laboratories and workshops to support the scientific and logistic
activities in the Antarctic.
The BAS also operates the
Ny-Ålesund Research
Station on behalf of the NERC.
This is an Arctic
research base located at Ny-Ålesund
on the Norwegian
island of Spitsbergen
.
Equipment
Ships
RRS
James Clark Ross at the
wharf at Rothera base
BAS operates two ships in support of its Antarctic research
program. Whilst both vessels have research and supply capabilities,
the
RRS James Clark
Ross is primarily an
oceanographic research ship, whilst the
RRS Ernest Shackleton
is primarily a logistics ship used for the resupply of scientific
stations.
Both vessels depart from the United Kingdom in September or October
of each year, and return to the United Kingdom in the following May
or June. Both vessels undergo refit and drydock during the
Antarctic winter, but are also used elsewhere during this period.
The
James Clark Ross often undertakes scientific research
on behalf of other organisations in the
Arctic, whilst
Ernest Shackleton is
chartered into commercial survey work.
The two civilian ships operated by the BAS are complemented by the
capabilities of
HMS
Endurance, the
Royal Navy's
ice patrol vessel that operates in the same waters. The
Endurance's two
Lynx
helicopters enable BAS staff to get to remote field sites that
BAS aircraft cannot access.
Aircraft
The BAS Dash-7 at Port Stanley Airport
on the Falkland Islands.
BAS
operates five aircraft in support of its research program in
Antarctica
. The aircraft used are all products of
de Havilland Canada and comprise
four
Twin Otters and
two
Dash 7s. During the
Antarctic summer the aircraft are based at the Rothera base, which
has a 900 metre gravel runway. During the Antarctic winter
conditions preclude flying and the aircraft return to the United
Kingdom.
The
larger Dash 7 undertakes regular shuttle flights between either
Port Stanley
Airport
on the Falkland Islands
, or Punta Arenas
in Chile
, and
Rothera. It also operates to and from the ice runway at the
Sky Blu base. The smaller Twin Otters are equipped with skis for
landing on snow and ice in remote areas, and operate out of the
bases at Rothera, Fossil Bluff, Halley and Sky Blu.
Findings
In
January 2008, a team of British Antarctic Survey scientists, led by
Hugh Corr and David Vaughan, reported that 2,200 years ago a
volcano erupted under Antarcticas ice sheet (based on airborne survey with radar images).
The
biggest eruption in the last 10,000 years, the volcanic ash was
found deposited on the ice surface under the Hudson
Mountains
, close to Pine Island Glacier
.
See also
References
- http://www.ingenia.org.uk/ingenia/articles.aspx?Index=334
Extreme Engineering: the challenges of working in Antartica,
Ingenia, September 2005
- BBC NEWS, Ancient Antarctic eruption noted
External links
on Adelaide Island
on the Brunt Ice Shelf
Logistics Facility on Alexander Island
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