The performance of a surface station on an Antarctic ice shelf

Halley is a scientific station on the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica. The three main buildings are wooden single-storey structures supported about 5 metres above the snow surface by steel platforms and columns. The buildings are raised annually to overcome the mean snow accumulation of 1 metre per year. This paper shows the development of snow drifts around the buildings over the 5 years since construction began. Differential movement and inclination of the steel columns are described. Possible causes of this deformation, including creep within the snowdrifts, are examined. 1 Introduction Halley is the fifth station of that name to be built on the Brunt Ice Shelf, on the coast of the Weddell Sea in the Antarctic. At Halley the ice shelf is about 150 m thick* and flows westwards