A research station in Antarctica, the Halley VI, will be temporarily shut down for the second year in a row among concerns over deep, growing cracks in the ice shelf on either side of the facility, The Guardian reported. The station, which sits atop the nearly 500-foot thick Brunt ice shelf, is operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
A research station in Antarctica, the Halley VI, will be temporarily shut down for the second year in a row among concerns over deep, growing cracks in the ice shelf on either side of the facility, The Guardian reported. The station, which sits atop the nearly 500-foot thick Brunt ice shelf, is operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
Concern centers around two cracks: An ice chasm that was dormant for 35 years before beginning to expand in 2012, and that has accelerated its growth over the past seven months; and the “Halloween crack,” which appeared last October and has grown 31 miles, as well as widened, in the past year. BAS described the growing cracks as “a complex and unpredictable glaciological situation.”
Halley IV, which sits atop a floating ice shelf in the frozen Weddell Sea, has been closed since March for the Antarctic winter, but will reopen next month for research. The new decision means the Halley VI will be closed once again between March and November 2018. The station’s 14-person staff will be sent elsewhere on the continent or home to the United Kingdom, The Guardian reported.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
Image: The Halley VI station in Antarctica. (Credit: BRITISH ANTARCTICA SURVEY)
