Antarctic diary - Home

Twenty-three year old biologist Dan Smale is spending his second winter at British Antarctic Survey's Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Dan is involved in a project looking at how well underwater marine animals living near the shore survive the impact of icebergs. Here you can read Dan's online diary for May 2005, exclusive to Flipside Extra! 

If you've got a question you'd like to ask Dan, please send it to flipside@flipside.org.uk and we'll pass it on.

Rothera Research Station is located on the Westside of the Antarctic Peninsula, at just over 67 degrees South. The science conducted from the station is very varied, ranging from deep-field glaciology to marine biology and atmospheric physics.

Much of the work is done during the busy summer months (October- March) when there are up to 100 people here and the weather is usually kind enough to permit flying to far off field locations all around the continent. During the winter there are about 20 of us left here for an isolated period of 7 months, which is a truly amazing time. I am fortunate enough to be starting my second winter in Antarctica, having worked here as a marine biologist for 18 months already.

My work relies heavily on the use of SCUBA-diving to collect samples and run experiments and diving operations are conducted year-round at Rothera. The sea around Rothera is jam-packed with floating icebergs, which are pushed around by wind and ocean currents during summer and locked in position by sea-ice during the winter months. These bergs have a massive effect on the type of marine animals that can live on the seabed, as they constantly scrape the rocky bottom and remove the early stages of life. My work aims to improve our understandings of exactly how the iceberg impacts relate to the number and types of fascinating creatures inhabiting the icy waters.

14 May 2005
Even though we live and work in the same place we still try to work a normal working week.

13 May 2005
Following a day of cold weather the sea ice to the North was again looking pretty solid. After inspection of the dive holes it was clear that the tide cracks and hole edges were hard enough to support diving operations.

10 May 2005
Another day of warm and windy weather so again diving was not possible. Time was spent setting up some experiments to look at how seawater temperature may affect the biology of one of the common Antarctic molluscs. 

7 May 2005
Another stunning day in Antarctica. The sky is clear, the air is cold (around -16 degrees C today), and there is not a breath of wind. The sky turned a beautiful shade of purple as the sun rose at around 10.30am.

6 May 2005
The day began with a bit of a winter cleaning session in the labs. There are about 20 scientists working in the Bonner Lab throughout summer and just 3 scientists here in winter. Needless to say there is a fair amount of cleaning and rearranging to do...

4 May 2005
The weather has been incredibly kind during early May, with temperatures around -10 degrees C and very calm days with some beautiful sunshine. The sun rises at around 10am and sets around 4pm...