This ice shelf is slowly moving towards the open ocean and, if not relocated, each base would eventually calve off into a drifting iceberg. The buildings Īs with the German Neumayer-Station III, the base floats on an ice shelf in the Weddell Sea rather than being built on solid land of the continent of Antarctica. Power was partially restored 19 hours later, but all science activities, apart from meteorological observations essential for weather forecasting, were suspended for the season. Plans were made to evacuate some of the eight modules and to shelter in the remaining few that still had heat. On 30 July 2014, the station lost its electrical and heating supply during record low temperatures (as low as -55 ☌), due to coolant leakage. It is the world's first fully relocatable terrestrial research station, and is distinguishable by its colourful modular structure built upon huge hydraulic skis. The current base, Halley VI officially opened in February 2013 after a test winter. In 2002, BAS realised that a calving event was possible which could destroy Halley V, so a competition was undertaken to design a replacement station. The name was changed to Halley in 1977 as the original bay had disappeared because of changes in the ice shelf. Taken over by FIDS (subsequently BAS), it was designated as Base Z. The bay where the expedition decided to set up their base was named after the astronomer Edmond Halley. Halley Bay base was founded in 1956, for the International Geophysical Year of 1957–1958, by an expedition from the Royal Society. The Halley Bay Important Bird Area with its emperor penguin colony lies in the general vicinity of the base. As of 2020, the base has been left unstaffed through winter since 2017, due to concerns over the propagation of an ice crack and how this might cut off the evacuation route in an emergency. The current base is the sixth in a line of structures and includes design elements intended to overcome the challenge of building on a floating ice shelf without being buried and crushed by snow. Measurements from Halley led to the discovery of the ozone hole in 1985. The base was established in 1956 to study the Earth's atmosphere. Halley Research Station is a research facility in Antarctica on the Brunt Ice Shelf operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). A balloon from NASA's BARREL program begins to rise over the brand new Halley VI Research Station, which had its grand opening in February 2013
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