Thirteen members of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) were trapped and in danger of freezing to death when their base, Halley VI, lost power. Power went down on July 30th and is now partially restored. The BAS waited to report the incident until power came back up, however now reports that the incident was so serious that all science activities have been suspended and emergency contingency plans to abandon some of Halley’s eight modules and attempt to shelter in a remaining few have been prepared. […]
One Survey member, Anthony Lister, managed to send a out a “tweet” when power came back up, reporting that the outage occurred while the station was experiencing record cold temperatures of -55.4° C (-67.72° F).
…”record cold”? Must be a typo.
I thought the northwest passage would be open at this time of year .. especially with all the global warming that has been reported but has yet to be substantiated.
I hope the polar bears don’t freeze to death. And remember … there are no penguins in the north. They are sun bathing in the antarctic.
Whatever.
What is it, winter? down there or something??
It must be all the ice melting is causing their electronics to short out. That must be it. And the generators got swept away in the calving glaciers.
You couldn’t make this stuff up any better.
There should be 2 generators so losing power for that long is very strange.
Biggest problem is THE BOOZE. They’re probably out of beer by now (August) but there’s sure to be wine/fortified left, likely all burst. The spirits drinkers will be OK. The ginger-alers are SOL.
Halley is at 75S so lows of -55C are about right.
I bet the diesel fuel jelled in that temp if the storage tanks are outside.
If that was the cause and they didn’t resupply with arctic diesel,,,,
Hmmm.
They use polar diesel, good to way below that.
I don’t think anyone’s had dogs since the 70s.
I know what happened to Halley 1 through 5. They’ve never solved the burying / ice problem. This new design is pretty but I’m guessing that pushing it around every year or two will wreck it as well.
And I miss the smell of diesel with everything.
Where is this “polar diesel” that you speak of?
The generators were giving them trouble before the winter set in.
Colder than that up in the Chilcotin for most of the year. Maybe it’s global warming.
Good question about the location of the fuel. A sensible thing (the good old days) would be to have it in barrels some distance from the base and get it as needed. Yes you would have to dig it up after winter and yes you would get a lot of exercise.
I read somewhere that they are using bladders nowadays but have no idea how that works or where its kept.
“Improvements over Halley V”
This should have been the first link for “reliable diesel generators”
Sorry about that.
If they are using hypalon fabric fuel bladders, they should work fine at that temp. PVC fabric bladders would not be any good.
The Brits have a very proud tradition of suffering severely and more importantly, unnecessarily in the polar regions. Moreover, they’re still pretty ticked at Norway over that whole Amundsen – Scott thing(whatever you do, don’t mention the dogs!).
Thanks for the links.
Indeed. I believe Sir Ranulph Fiennes cut off some of his own fingers with a hacksaw – back in England – because of the NHS wait time to treat old frostbite injuries. (Imagine having to nail your own head to the floor.)
Reservation in the name of Donner. Party of twelve.
“…The Brits have a very proud tradition of suffering severely and more importantly, unnecessarily in the polar regions. Moreover, they’re still pretty ticked at Norway over that whole Amundsen – Scott thing(whatever you do, don’t mention the dogs!). ”
Spot of the Antarctic by Les Barker
As you plough through the snows of December
Remember that poor Captain Scott
Wasn’t he the second to reach the South Pole?
Well no, in fact he was not.
Roald Amundsen, he was the first
Or that’s what everyone reckoned.
But we’ve all been under a misapprehension
I’ve been toald that Roald was second.
When he arrived at his goal
A small patch of yellow snow marked it
For who was first to the pole
Spot of the Antarctic.
It was an elementary mistake
That put Roald out of the hunt
How can the man at the back of the sledge
Beat the dog he has tied to the front?
But Spot was not a happy dog
A dog needs to go out for a run
But pulling a sledge all those miles through the snow
A walk round the park would have done.
A sledge piled high with a cooker, a fridge, a TV and who had to park it
It wasn’t Roald who trudged through the coald
It was Spot of the Antarctic.
Of course, Roald did all the planning
Strategy flowed from his mouth
“Which way shall we go today, Roald?” said Spot
And Roald said “South.”
And on the return journey
His keen mind again proved its worth
“Which way shall we go today, Roald?” said Spot
And Roald said “North”
All Spot had to do was pull the sledge
Put the tent up and when it got dark it
Was whose job to cook Roald supper
Spot of the Antarctic.
“My name used to be Ronald” said Roald
“But alas, I was a poor man
I had to sell my own N to finance the trip
I sold it to someone called Orman.
I bought a tent and a sledge
And a dog and set out to do it
Spot didn’t like the Antarctic at first
But he’s taken a Viking to it.
I thought I’d be first to the pole
I got off the sledge and then parked it
I wanted to be first, my heart going to burst
It was Spot of the Antarctic.”
Then half way through the journey home
He spoke to his pet with regret
“I’ve miscalculated, our food is all ated
And McDonald’s haven’t opened here yet.”
No for Roald the example of Oates
No bravely going out for a walk
He simply shouted “Come here, Spot”
And got out his knife and fork.
The dog may be gone, but the legend lives on
All down the years dog’s have barked it
For who was the first to the pole?
Spot of the Antarctic.
Everyone at that base needs to have their blood tested by Kurt Russell.
course everyone should be tested but what about the dogs? And the quaker oats guy?