9 December, 2024 News stories
British Antarctic Survey (BAS) staff working on the frozen continent are preparing to celebrate the festive season in style. Nearly 300 researchers, engineers, crew and support staff, located across five research stations and on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough, are guaranteed a white Christmas complete with snow, ice and penguins.
The festive period in Antarctica is often the busiest part of the field season, when station operations and science projects are in full swing. Some will celebrate with station and ship colleagues whilst others will be living under canvas in the ‘deep field’.
Aurelia Reichardt is the Rothera Research Station Leader. She says:
“Christmas is an important time and tradition for most people on station. Working in Antarctica can be isolating, away from family and life at home, so having a festive atmosphere on station helps people feel connected. It also helps us build a stronger community by sharing and exchanging traditions. Celebrations and switching off from the everyday of work life here on station does wonders for everyone’s mental well being.”
Celebrations at Rothera Research Station, Adelaide Island, Antarctic Peninsula
At Rothera Research Station, December marks the busiest time of year. As the UK’s largest research station, around 150 people will come together for Christmas movies, mince pie making and gingerbread decorating alongside the vital research and operations in the deep field. For many people, it’s work as normal. A meteorological balloon will be launched as usual, the marine divers will head into the bay to collect specimens and if the weather’s good the pilots will fly to deploy or collect researchers and their teams from the deep field.
A group of people preparing mince pies in a kitchen
Some of the team at Rothera Research Station preparing mince pies for the festive season
The Rothera team is bigger this year as additional construction staff work on the ambitious station modernisation, currently working on the new 100+ room Discovery Building, a facility to house all the operations functions. It is due for completion and handover in early 2025.
Having decorated the station for the festive period, the team will also be running the annual Christmas Door Competition where wreaths are fashioned from recycled rubbish, and origami stars and penguins are made out of old paper. Most staff will try to take part of Christmas Day to relax, taking the time to enjoy a traditional Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, as well as sports like football and rounders. With almost 24 hours of sunlight at this time of year in Antarctica, there’s plenty of time to get involved with the festivities!
A number of staff will also be spending the season deployed out in the Antarctic wilderness, including at our field stations Sky-Blu and Fossil Bluff, doing their science research and providing essential air operations and re-fuelling aircraft.
Halley VI Research Station, Brunt Ice Shelf
The team living and working at the modular Halley VI Research Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf are also looking forward to spending time together over the festive period. The team will be checking science equipment and automating the equipment to ensure data can be collected over the Antarctic winter. A science team working on the RIFT-Tip project will be working a few kilometres from the station to collect ice cores, trying to understand what happens to the ice shelf before it has a calving event.
In the usual tradition, colleagues have been busy making gifts for each other in their spare time for secret Santa. The station now has festive decorations and the team are carrying out essential maintenance.
The team are Halley are carrying out essential maintenance following the Antarctic winter.
Celebrations on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough
Christmas Day on board our polar ship, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, will be spent sailing south of the Antarctic Peninsula and dropping off a team of researchers on Christmas Eve at their study site.
The ship crew have already started the festivities, with decorations up and having a special Christmas film evening at least once a week. Many of the crew are currently putting together last-minute adjustments to homemade gifts for this year’s secret Santa.
A room filled with furniture and Christmas decorations
Decorating for Christmas is officially underway on the RRS Sir David Attenborough
The sub-Antarctic island research stations
The team at King Edward Point Research Station will attend a festive carol service at the church in Grytviken on South Georgia with colleagues from the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. A festive-themed lunch is in planning for Christmas Day, along with activities such as a run and quiz.
On Bird Island Research Station the wildlife doesn’t stop for Christmas, so the team of six zoological field assistants will be out in Santa hats to do their daily rounds. It’s baby season so they’re checking and monitoring wandering albatross eggs, fur seal pups and the chicks of macaroni penguins, mollymawks and skuas (which are arguably the cutest chicks on the island!).
On station the decorations are up, and the Christmas tunes are on. The team will prepare a festive feast for the science crew returning from the field, probably followed by a game of charades and then a Christmas film.
At Signy Island Research Station, the team of five will be midway through a series of science projects. The station leader, with help from the support staff, will create a festive feast and a series of games and activities.
In the usual tradition for all the research stations, the Station Leader will make brunch on Boxing day for the teams – giving the chefs who have prepared the Christmas day feasts, a well-deserved rest and some time off.
From everyone at BAS, in the UK and in Antarctica, Merry Christmas!
A small team of BAS staff, located on the Falkland Islands, a gateway into BAS research stations, will also be enjoying the festivities, with some well-deserved down time from supporting BAS science and operations
Read about the projects happening this year on the frozen continent in our Science Summaries booklet