This Saturday, 29 March, Scott Base will shut down all non-essential energy sources from 8pm to 9pm in recognition of Earth Hour.
Earth Hour is a global initiative to encourage us all to focus on the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to look at the ways we can do it. And with Antarctica New Zealand’s focus on minimizing our environmental impact on Antarctica this fits right in with that thinking.
With the Antarctic winter setting in and daylight hours diminishing by as much as 2 hours per week, a total shutdown of the Base could be life-threatening. Outside temperatures of -30ºC mean that heating (which is part electrical and part diesel-fired boiler) remains essential, but lighting can be reduced to minimum safety levels and all unnecessary appliances and computers will be switched off.
A couple of Sundays ago, we woke up to a hot sunny day in Antarctica – yes, only -5ºC, with no wind. This felt so mild compared to the previous week, that I found (somewhat to my amazement) I didn’t need my hat and gloves walking over to McMurdo Station.
On the way home Therese and I decided to climb Observation Hill, the 750 ft/230m peak between Scott Base and McMurdo. A recent snowfall made the path up a little slippy, but within 45 minutes we stood on the top, with a fantastic view in all directions. Here I am in the possum-fur lined polar hat left to me by Megan, one of the Summer 2007/08 conservators. In the background is White Island.
Ob Hill is famous for the Jarrah wood cross erected in memory of Scott and his four companions. It took two days to carry it up to the top of the hill, and bears the following inscription:
“In memoriam Cap. R. F. Scott, Dr. E. A. Wilson, Cap. L. E. G. Oates, Lt. H. R. Bowers, Petty Officer E. Evans R.N.
Who died on the return from the South Pole March 1912.
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield…”
In June 1993, a violent storm hit the McMurdo Sound area, bringing hurricane force winds strong enough to blow the cross down. The cross was recovered and repaired by members of the New Zealand Antarctic Programme.
On 23 January 1994, members of both the McMurdo Station and Scott Base communities teamed together to carry the cross up the hill, to be erected once again, 81 years and one day after it was originally placed on the hill. Many people joined in the task, each taking his or her turn carrying the cross.
The wood on the cross is subject to erosion by wind, snow and flying scoria. Interestingly, the wood around the letters has eroded, leaving the once engraved letters themselves in relief, although even these letters grow more indistinct each year. One possible reason for this is that where the letters were chiselled, the wood became condensed, and therefore more resistant to erosion. Some of the letters have fragments of paint in them, indicating that in the past, efforts were made to keep the words legible. Antarctic Heritage Trust conservators will periodically consolidate the letters to help slow the rate of the erosion.
Standing in front of the cross, I felt the erosion of the letters emphasised the harshness of this continent, the impermanence and fragility of human presence and memory in Antarctica. Through the lens of those letters we look back and see, distant but distinct, the figures of Scott and his companions struggling through the snow; the grief on the faces of the men who carved and carried the cross. It somehow strikes you in the heart.
Power outages, volcanic eruptions or strong storms - you may think that there are many things that can be hazardous at Scott Base. All of those events are serious, but perhaps the largest threat to the Base is a fire. Antarctica has a very dry atmosphere, currently with a 50% relative humidity outside and 10% inside the base. Strong winds and the lack of water also make fire fighting techniques difficult. Scott Base retains around 105,000 litres of water at all times for fire fighting as part of its safety procedures. Some examples of fires that have occurred in Antarctica in more recent times are the Cape Hallett Station (1964), Rothera Station (2001), and Esperanza Base (2007).
Pete de Joux, the fire chief for Scott Base, trained the AHT team in fire fighting techniques such as running hoses out, coupling the sprinkler system and using fire extinguishers. The winter-over crew at Scott Base has gone through a one week professional fire fighting course with the New Zealand Fire Service in Christchurch at the Woolston Fire Training Facility. This course prepares them for search and recovery, tackling hazardous materials, and using extinguishers, pumps, hoses and breathing apparatus. They also learned how to search a building in total darkness and practiced crawling through an obstacle course in a building full of smoke and heat. Pete says, “It’s hard work, scary at times, but a great team-building exercise.”
After seeing all of the fire fighting equipment and facilities at Scott Base, it made me wonder how the early explorers would have fought fires. With all of the flammable materials brought to the huts such as petrol, coal, and acetylene, it’s surprising that there were not more fire incidents. One of the most notable occurred at Cape Adare from Borchgrevink’s Southern Cross expedition due to a candle left burning on a bunk. How do you think the early expeditions would have fought fires?
During our fire training with Pete, I learned so much about fire and its implications at Scott Base. Once a month, and occasionally more often, we run fire drills so that everyone knows their responsibilities. I now feel confident that I could assist in the event of a fire.
When we arrived here on February 8th we were greeted by lots of big seals lounging around very close to the edge of the ice. What a delight to see them so closely – my first experience of Antarctic wildlife. And they hung around until just a few days ago. I loved watching them while sitting in the dining room and from the shore when I went down to see if I could catch them turning around or squiggling towards a break in the ice. They’re all gone now and I miss them. Oh, but don’t panic, they haven’t gone from all Antarctica, just from outside the front windows at Scott Base.
Before coming to Antarctic my friend’s friend, Robin (who has experienced the Antarctic), warned me to watch out for the seals – that they can fling themselves at you and attack if you stand too close to the shore. Well, the seals here can hardly lift their little heads over their big bellies in order to smile at you (they always seem to be smiling), let alone jump up and attack. They’re called Weddell seals, and as seals go, they’re pretty neat.
The Weddell seal is the southernmost mammal in the world. In this fast-ice zone fringing the continent the sea freezes in solid sheets that fasten onto the land and for most air-breathing, fish-eating animals such as the seal this causes a major problem for foraging and breathing. But the Weddell seals manage to survive here because they’re great divers and can stay submerged for more than an hour. More importantly, they have the ability to maintain holes in the ice by using their unusually protruding incisors to scrape an opening for breathing. Pretty hard on the teeth – many of the older ones die by drowning when their teeth become so worn they’re unable to keep a hole open. And you can tell that there aren’t other mammals around to compete for food because they sure must have access to lot of it in order to look the way they do. They average about 400kg and grow to about 3m long!
The reason there were so many in front of the base was because they were saving their teeth and taking advantage of the tidal cracks that form where the sea ice meets the permanent Ross Ice Shelf here at the tip of Ross Island. With the coming of winter, the cracks are freezing and they have moved on.
Oh, and Robin’s warning about the attacking seals? Well, he was right after all. The Leopard sealsthat live along some parts of the coast of Antarctica have been known to jump out of the water and attack humans – perhaps mistaking the upright profile for their usual prey, the Emperor penguin. But we’re too far south for the Leopard seals to hang out, so no worries Robin – I won’t be falling prey to an attacking seal.
On first arriving in Antarctica it was a bit strange to wrap our minds around the 24 hours of sunlight being experienced here. After three months of 24-hour sun, some of the summer staff were dreading to go back to the real world of the dark nights. Others were seriously itching for a starry night! We sat in the bar getting to know these new people, sipping our drinks while gazing out at the ice and mountains. The hours ticked by but the sun remained.
It was just so bizarre to go to bed at midnight with the sun still blazing through the windows.
Well, the light is fading just as we’ve become accustomed to it, and we’ve begun to see some pretty amazing skies during the evening. We are now headed towards Vernal or Spring Equinox, which occurs on March 21 at noon, when the sun is directly overhead at the equator. At this time the sun sheds an equal amount of light and darkness over the entire globe, giving everybody from Antarctica to the Arctic 12 hours each of sunlight and darkness. From this time onwards night-time in Antarctica will increase by 20 minutes each day, as the sun rises ten minutes later and sets ten minutes earlier.
Nearing the end of June we enter the time known as “polar nights” or, 24 hours of darkness, while simultaneously the Arctic experiences “polar days”, or 24 hours of sunlight. So just how does this happen?
Well, we all know that the Earth is tilted on its axis, 23.5° to be exact. It’s this tilt, along with the Earth’s rotation around the sun that gives us our seasons, and the length of our days.
The figure below shows how Antarctica enters darkness as the Arctic tips towards the sun.
If the Earth were straight up and down, we would have no seasons, get no summer holidays, and wouldn’t enjoy things like spring blossoms, colourful autumn leaves and snow shovelling! This tilt and rotation send Antarctica into complete 24 hour darkness for three months on June 21. This is called Summer Solstice, the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the longest day of the year and my sister’s birthday – Erin, I hope you think of me and eat something DARK and chocolatey!
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