Boaty McBoatface (Sir David Attenborough) launching NOW!

Very cool .

Did you know that they are having to completely rebuild the wharf down at the Rothera base in Antarctica, where the Sir David Attenborough will dock twice a year, because the current wharf is too small for the new ship? .

See: https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/uk-antarctic-hub-rothera-modernisation/

If you watch the drone video at the bottom of the page, you can view an aerial tour of where I lived and worked for 3 months last year (it was filmed by a friend of mine, a few weeks before I arrived there) .

Wow, thanks jfkimberly!

Very cool .

Did you know that they are having to completely rebuild the wharf down at the Rothera base in Antarctica, where the Sir David Attenborough will dock twice a year, because the current wharf is too small for the new ship? .

See: https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/uk-antarctic-hub-rothera-modernisation/

If you watch the drone video at the bottom of the page, you can view an aerial tour of where I lived and worked for 3 months last year (it was filmed by a friend of mine, a few weeks before I arrived there) .

I didn't realize the base was so big.  I mean, obviously, it's not big, but there's a lot more there than I realized.  How many bases are in use down there?  Do you know what the average population is at Rothera at any given time?

If you watch the drone video at the bottom of the page, you can view an aerial tour of where I lived and worked for 3 months last year (it was filmed by a friend of mine, a few weeks before I arrived there) .

Fabulous! 

I didn't realize the base was so big.  I mean, obviously, it's not big, but there's a lot more there than I realized.  How many bases are in use down there?  Do you know what the average population is at Rothera at any given time?

The UK has two year-round bases - Rothera is the only one with a gravel runway, so it's used as a main port of entry to Antarctica for the planes (from various countries). The other is Halley, which about 1100 miles from Rothera and is the one on the ice shelf that looks like some blue alien building (which is being moved due to cracks in the ice) - Halley has had to close for the last 2 winters though, due to worry over human safety with the cracks in the ice.

There are also several other international bases around the continent: https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/cr/files/2016/08/bases_v5-1-528x400.jpg

Rothera has a skeleton team of about 20 people keeping the base running over the winter (the station leader, a comms/IT guy, a chef, a meteorologist, 4 field guides, an electronics engineer, a doctor, an electrician, a generator mechanic, a couple of vehicle mechanics, a plumber, a carpenter, a marine biologist, a marine/dive assistant, a boatman), and in the summer there can be anywhere up to 120 people at one time... the numbers change all the time though, as staff and scientists come and go throughout the season. The ship only comes in during the summer months (November and April - though the first one didn't arrive until Jan 31st when I was there), and the planes and pilots, and most of the staff (including us) only work there between October and March... so from March to October, there is no physical contact with the outside world - no post, no ships, no planes, no food deliveries, just those 20 people.

Here's the oncoming winter team from when I was there (so the team who stayed between March and October 2017 - they do 18 months in total: summer, winter, summer):
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SaZmhx38iiQ/WYdU4yZMsuI/AAAAAAAABIQ/LL5eCeBRz-EJeo49pzSJzy03BSOSp8tMACLcBGAs/s1600/Group2%2B%25282%2529.jpg

And our Christmas photo (December 2016):
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iEenSqjbxVg/WGABcm4kQoI/AAAAAAAAHlo/J2R6I3Tssn4L28iudMRiC9XbDrWTybTvQCLcB/s1600/Rothera%2BChristmas%2Bpic%2B.jpg

Wow ksand! It's so cool to see your team and to hear about the work there.

It still makes me smile that this was originally named Boaty McBoatface and how its led to some other incredible Internet naming competitions.

Wow ksand! It's so cool to see your team and to hear about the work there.

Yeah, it was pretty cool, though for me, it was a lot of hard work - 4:30am starts, working up to 14 hours a day, potentially 7 days a week. I had the opportunity to apply to go back again for this coming summer season, but I decided to leave it for this year, since I'm not sure I really want to handle 95-hour weeks (I would be doing the job on my own for at least a month, whereas when I was there last year, the work was shared between 2 of us)

It still makes me smile that this was originally named Boaty McBoatface and how its led to some other incredible Internet naming competitions.

Even though they didn't keep the Boaty McBoatface name for the ship itself, they did actually give that name to one of the submersibles aboard the ship which is used for research .

Yeah, it was pretty cool, though for me, it was a lot of hard work - 4:30am starts, working up to 14 hours a day, potentially 7 days a week. I had the opportunity to apply to go back again for this coming summer season, but I decided to leave it for this year, since I'm not sure I really want to handle 95-hour weeks (I would be doing the job on my own for at least a month, whereas when I was there last year, the work was shared between 2 of us)

Even though they didn't keep the Boaty McBoatface name for the ship itself, they did actually give that name to one of the submersibles aboard the ship which is used for research .

I have nothing but respect for the amount of work you and all the scientists & support staff working down there (and here) put in. I can't blame you for not wanting 95hr work weeks in subzero temps at the bottom of the planet But I do really appreciate you sharing your experiences and knowledge here!

Exclusive Footage

Love that video!!!!

Amazing. Perfect animation for that.