Space-age architecture in the coldest place on earth

12:13 26 July 2013

The Antarctic explorers of the heroic era will be turning in their graves: Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton had to make do with wooden huts. And they were the lucky ones. Others survived the brutal polar winter with only upturned boats for shelter. Now, a century later a touring exhibition opening in Glasgow, UK, this week shows just how different conditions today. Alison George ? who spent an Antarctic winter in a far-from-space-age wooden hut ? explores some of the futuristic designs

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British Antarctic Survey's Halley VI

Halley VI, a British research station which opened in February this year, is built on skis, making it the first polar research station that can be relocated. It is sited on a floating ice shelf on the Weddell Sea, from where the ozone hole was discovered. This is the research station's sixth incarnation, and it includes hydraulic legs, with good reason: the first four bases were engulfed by ice. Halley III, for example, was 12 metres under the ice when it was abandoned in 1983. The eight modules comprising the new base are built to withstand temperatures of -55??C, and can be towed to a new location ? a wise feature given that the ice shelf it is built on is moving at a rate of 700 metres per year.

(Image: BAS)

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/2f309a62/sc/10/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cgallery0Cantarctic0Ebases0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

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