Halley Research Station is a research facility in Antarctica on the Brunt Ice Shelf operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The base was established in 1956 to study the Earth's atmosphere. Measurements from Halley led to the discovery of the ozone hole in 1985. The current base is the sixth in a line of structures and includes design elements intended to overcome the challenge of building on a floating ice shelf without being buried and crushed by snow. , the base has been left unstaffed through winter since 2017, due to concerns over the propagation of an ice crack and how this might cut off the evacuation route in an emergency.
The Halley Bay Important Bird Area with its emperor penguin colony lies in the vicinity of the base.
History
Halley Bay base was founded in 1956, for the International Geophysical Year of 1957–1958, by an expedition from the Royal Society. The bay where the expedition decided to set up their base was named after the astronomer Edmond Halley. Taken over by FIDS (subsequently BAS), it was designated as Base Z. The name was changed to Halley in 1977 as the original bay had disappeared because of changes in the ice shelf.
In 2002, BAS realised that a calving event was possible which could destroy Halley V, so a competition was undertaken to design a replacement station. The current base, Halley VI, officially opened in February 2013 after a test winter. It is the world's first fully relocatable terrestrial research station.
On 30 July 2014, the station lost its electrical and heating supply during record low temperatures (as low as -55°C), due to coolant leakage. Plans were made to evacuate some of the eight modules and to shelter in the remaining few that still had heat. Power was partially restored 19 hours later, but all science activities, apart from meteorological observations essential for weather forecasting, were suspended for the season.
The buildings
As with the German Neumayer-Station III, the base floats on an ice shelf in the Weddell Sea rather than being built on solid land of the continent of Antarctica. This ice shelf is slowly moving towards the open ocean and, if not relocated, each base would eventually calve off into a drifting iceberg.
There have been five previous bases called Halley. Various construction methods have been tried, from unprotected wooden huts to buildings within steel tunnels. The first four all became buried by snow accumulation and crushed until they were uninhabitable.
Halley I
Built: 1956
1956: Main structure
1961: Main living hut
1964: Office block on surface
Abandoned: 1968
Structure: Timber hut
Halley II
Built: 1967
Abandoned: 1973
Structure: A series of wooden huts
The roofs were reinforced with steel supports to help support the weight of the snow but the station still had to be abandoned in 1973, after just six years.
Halley III
Built: 1973
Abandoned: 1983
In 10 years the base was buried below the surface and access and ventilation problems led to its abandonment. Years later it emerged from the ice cliff at the sea. Structure: Built inside Armco steel tubing designed to take the snow loadings building up over it
Halley IV
Built: 1983
Abandoned: 1994
Structure: Two-storey buildings constructed inside four interconnected plywood tubes with access shafts to the surface. The tubes were in diameter and consisted of insulated reinforced panels designed to withstand the pressures of being buried in snow and ice.
Halley V
Built: completed 1990, operational 1989
Demolished: late 2012
Once its successor, Halley VI, was operational, Halley V was demolished. Structure: Main buildings were built on steel platforms that were raised annually to keep them above the snow surface. Stilts were fixed on the flowing ice shelf so it eventually became too close to the calving edge. Lawes platform: Main platform Drewry summer accommodation: Two-storey building was on skis and could be dragged to a new higher location each year. The Drewry block was later moved to join the Halley VI base Simpson Building (Ice and Climate Building) (ICB): On stilts and was raised each year to counteract the buildup of snow It housed the Dobson spectrophotometer used to discover the ozone hole. Piggott platform (Space Science Building): Used for upper atmosphere research.
Halley VI
Built: Over four summers, first operational data 28 February 2012, officially opened 2013. Structure: Modular Cost: Approximately £26 million