From CFACT
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.
The incident is particularly serious, as the station is likely completely cut off from rescue for months.
The incident occurred during the height of the Antarctic winter while southern sea ice is at or near record highs (Marc Morano has details at Climate Depot).
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). (h/t Rai news)
It is not possible to survive for long at the station without power, placing the 13 members of the expedition in danger of freezing to death, although they remain safe while they can keep the power running.
Halley VI is located on the Brunt Ice Shelf on 150 meter thick ice, just off the coast of Antarctica. Temperature there never climbs above freezing and this time of year the sun never climbs above the horizon.
Halley VI became operational in 2012 and consists of eight modules supported by hydraulic legs on skis. The skis are designed to permit the BAS to periodically reposition the station using bulldozers in the hopes of escaping the fate of past stations which were lost when they became buried under vast accumulations of ice and snow. In the past the station was a major source of reporting on the Antarctic “ozone hole.”
The Halley VI power loss serves as a stark reminder of the incredibly harsh and dangerous cold conditions Antarctic researchers brave. It also can’t help but remind us of Chris Turney’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition which became trapped in rapidly expanding sea ice last 
December. Drama ensued when both the ice breaker carrying the expedition and the ice breaker initially sent to rescue it both became trapped. A third ice breaker was ultimately able to evacuate the passengers using a helicopter.
While the BAS researchers stationed at Halley VI have a higher degree of professionalism and are better prepared, their situation will be far more dire should they lose power again. Halley VI is located beyond the likely ability of rescuers to reach it until this year’s particularly cold and harsh Antarctic winter subsides.
Let’s all send our hopes and prayers that the BAS team at Halley VI will be able to keep the power running and remain safe until conditions improve and they can be reached.
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– See more at: http://www.cfact.org/2014/08/07/british-antartctic-survey-trapped-without-power-during-record-cold-55-4-c/#sthash.FTzHfe1g.dpuf
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Actually Antarctica is one of very few places on Earth where wind turbines might be a practical power source. The catabatic winds coming off the icecap blow most of the time
and mostly above the viable wind speed of turbines.
they waited and visited in summer to check on things.
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Climate Scientists plan to send a probe to the Sun to prove once a for all it doesn’t affect climate. They will sent the probe at night so it doesn’t burn up.
include a small stove and a supply of coal
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EPA regulations prohibit burning coal to keep warm, unless you are Chinese.
Currently, the temperature is about -30 degrees C. The station is in the range of low pressure.
Wind from the land about 20 km. You can see that it is very bad.
http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/overlay=temp/orthographic=-8.34,-79.05,2540
http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic=-8.34,-79.05,2540
http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/overlay=mean_sea_level_pressure/orthographic=-8.34,-79.05,2540
His priorities were to give all the bedrooms a bubble window with a nice view and he brought in a ‘colour psychologist’ to pick the interiors.
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the frozen corpses were found with smiles on their faces. happy to be finally free of the place.
Fortunately they have solar panels for backup. Oh wait!
Australia’s Mawson Station has a couple of wind turbines for power plus a diesel set up.
An isolated situation with lots of almost reliable wind far beyond the reach of a grid such as an Antarctic base, is about the only situation where wind turbines can be useful and perhaps even economical if maintenance in hostile conditions doesn’t kill it.
From the “This Week in Mawson” blog. 2nd / July / 2014
The Mawson station wind turbines
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/stations/mawson/this-week-at-mawson/page?id=141667&st=141667&dt=MjAxNC0wNy0wNA==
Current satellite image.
http://oi62.tinypic.com/2eweask.jpg
Gary says:
August 7, 2014 at 3:14 pm
Is it really necessary to have people down there in winter? We know its really cold and windy, What difference would it make if they waited and visited in summer to check on things.
Thirty years ago or so I attended a conference where cosmic ray (I think) data was presented by a researcher who had spent the winter in antarctica. As it became clear what had been done, you could feel the respect granted this man by those who had spent the last year working in their cozy university labs.
It’s a form of scientific macho — something I did not think possible before attending the conference.
Best of luck to BAS but I am surprised that there is no reliable backup power. (Like wind turbines?) (Sark. off).
I too hope they survive & can return safely to the loved ones. However, clearly the CO2 has been insufficient to heat the atmosphere locally to an acceptable level!
I too wondered about the diesel fuel waxing. I remember some years ago now a seriously cold bout in northern Europe with many lorries/trucks/cars being stuck in blizzard conditions. The trucks were having difficulty due to the fuel waxing up in the cold.
Another thing. I spent 18 months from 1983-84 doing a barn conversion, whilst the family lived in a mobile home nearby. We lived on liquid bottled gas (cannister) for heating & cooking & hot-water. When it was very cold with wind chill effects in winter, the old gas cooker & gas fire would slow right down in output! I assumed that this was because the gas was chilling back into a liquid & couldn’t “gasify” sufficiently, at least it was all my chilled brain could think of at the time. I use to step outside & brave the cold, & give the cannisters a good old shake & perfmormance would return albeit temporarily! Any gas engineers out there with a more “scientific” explanation? I am just a concrete/steel/timber/masonry man! Just curious.
Mycroft says:
August 7, 2014 at 2:56 pm
Odds on MSM won’t report this….
BBC is reporting it:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-28687841
From Alan the Brit on August 8, 2014 at 3:28 am:
It was on this site I learned from the coldest North America residents of the dubious-sounding practice of building a wood fire under a propane tank to keep the gas pressure up.
Nope! Freeze-up also affects blacksmiths and other metal workers using propane forges, draw the gas off too fast and the tank gets very cold with the pressure dropping. To provide enough heat for the liquid to gas phase conversion when using a 20# size, placing the tank in a tub of warm water is recommended, although so is using multiple tanks joined together by a manifold then just use one tank at a time but switch between them so no one tank gets too cold.
Of course when the exterior temperatures are too cold to provide the heat anyway… Rather than a wood fire under a propane tank, why not just use a wood stove for cooking and heat?
The BBC have reported this story but have not mentioned the -55.4 degrees C temperature. They are also reporting that there is no danger to the scientists involved.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-28687841
kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
August 8, 2014 at 4:29 am
Good point!
On a more salutary & poignant note, Shackleton kept his men going with all sorts of antics & morale boosting efforts. He was what I consider to be a great leader of men. To his eternal credit, he never gave up hope, & he never lost a man! Within a few years of returning to Britain/Ireland, most would be dead, killed in the Great War!
HAGWE everyone!
I am guessing RTG backup power and heat would not have been considered.
For the record The Australian Antarctic Stations main power houses use diesel powered generators with an emergency back up system also powered by diesel.
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/station-life-and-activities/power-generation
At Mawson two wind turbines were installed in 2003 and contribute to the stations power requirements:
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/stations/mawson/living/electrical-energy
In 2001 Casey Station lost all power and communications following an electrical power surge which set off automatic fire extinguishers, causing damage to three service buildings.
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2001/update-casey-team-restores-full-power-communications-to-station
It will be interesting to find out whether the BAS incident was in any way similar.
@kadaka
Yes, it all makes sense now. The whole station was modeled on Starbug from Red Dwarf. Oh *smeg*.
as an aussie..what I noted was that they can get mobile or net reception down there thousands of miles from nowhere.??
many rural aussies cant get any net or mobile cover in far less isolated places mainland.
sounds like they better tell the epa or whoever ,to shove it and make sure they take wood coal or something useful down there with a potbelly stove or three in future.
Cosmic rays during low solar activity on the polar circle is very high (no protection of the ozone).
Can damage electronic devices.
http://www.bartol.udel.edu/~pyle/thespnplot2.gif
From the BBC article,
“The station comprises eight modules standing on hydraulic legs”.
This time a genuine question and not a sarcastic or leading one but are they hydraulic legs so the entire station can be lifted to accommodate ice growth?
If so then I would find that both curious and interesting.
From ozspeaksup on August 8, 2014 at 5:13 am:
Satellite phone?
Although for such a short message, in text not voice, perhaps they have a radio system like shortwave for such. Perhaps despite the conditions they can get 1200 baud, or even up to 9600! Hopefully they are no longer on AOL.
Ahh….just found it in one of the BBC links….They say it’s to accommodate “rising snow levels”……Well it’s ice of sorts isn’t it?!
At 2.03 mins….
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-21344320
From jones on August 8, 2014 at 5:24 am:
Think of shifting wind-blown dunes in the desert. Apparently 20-ft drifts of snow and ice are possible. The legs can position the station relative to whatever is the current outside surface and keep them from being covered over with the doorways still usable.
Actually I was wondering since the thing is mounted on skis, if the legs were mounted on hinges, with front and rear angled hydraulic cylinders mounted on each leg for positioning, could you make such a station ski itself to somewhere?
One can only hope that Antarctic Superstar William Connolley is safe and sound behind his keyboard in England…