With the first round of Winter Training Trips concluded April saw the wintering team here at Halley VI settling in for the long, cold winter to come. You could say […]

It was a strange way to welcome in the New Year, standing outside the modules at Halley, at midnight with a clear sky above us and the sun glaring down, […]

1800 drums of fuel, 650kgs of potatoes, 3 cubic meters of toilet paper and a drum kit. This is just a small selection of items that have arrived this year […]

Having spent a winter in isolation on the Brunt ice shelf we were all very excited as the first plane landed on the runway bringing people and freshies. More than […]

It’s October now and the length of daylight is increasing rapidly at this time of year. It only seems a few weeks since we were in total darkness yet we […]

With the ever-increasing light and (occasionally) improving weather, September felt like we were truly beginning to leave winter behind. Although the true start of the summer season is not until […]

With the build- up and celebration of mid-winter over, July started with the winter teams six-monthly dental checks. Having had our teeth checked and treated before leaving for the Antarctic […]

Doctor’s Report Summary: Sun above the horizon – 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds Max Wind Speed – 81 knots Min Temp – −48°C (-62°C Midwinter’s Week Fun […]

The month of April really brings home the prospect of the upcoming 100 days in which we will not see the sun at all. The nights draw in ever more […]

It’s now March, the days are starting to draw in and winter is coming to Antarctica. It’s that time of year when anyone not staying for the approaching winter (or […]

February, the shortest month of the year and probably the most jam-packed one, here at Halley VI. 28 busy days with almost every day filled with an event, the station […]

January… the busiest month of the year. As our regular supply ship, the Ernest Shackleton had now dropped off the last of the long-term arrivals there were a number of […]

1st November: As the Winter draws to a close and the last field trip returns the base begins preparation for the arrival of new people. The super warm clothing, specialised […]

Life at Windy Bay caboose during the last month of winter A Caboose is a small living container, sitting on sledge at Windy Bay. It was home for me during […]

The weekend of the 4th and 5th of August was spent making a short film for the Antarctic Film Festival. Despite being titled ‘What a Drag’, it was really fun […]

July was one of the harder months of the Winter. The excitement of mid-Winter had passed and sun-up in August seemed like a long way off. It was also the […]

The darkest month of the year and important mid-winter celebration for all the people in Antarctica is what June is all about here in the South. The sun is below […]

The month of May started with the lowering of the very weather damaged British flag. This will be the only flag to have been flown above Halley 5 and Halley […]

What makes life in Antarctica different to life somewhere else? What drives someone down to the end of the world? What makes it worthwhile or interesting? What about April 2012? […]

February at Halley this year, despite being the shortest month, seemed much longer. Everything was about timing. Do we have enough time to make the station ready for wintering? Do […]

January often starts with a hangover and usually marks the end of the busy festive season. At Halley, folk were half-way through relief, back-loading waste onto the Ernest Shackleton and […]

I arrived at Halley on the 2nd of Dec after spending the previous week travelling through Cape Town and Novo with ALCI. The journey was particularly smooth and even got […]

It was to be another very busy start to what would be another very season. The first of many flights and transits were due out on the 23rd Oct 2011, […]

Well it’s finally my turn to write a month. My name is Paul Barwick and I am the wintering Electrical Service Technician here at Halley and if all goes to […]

We are fortunate enough at Halley to have an Emperor Penguin colony at “Windy Bay”, about 20Km from base. Naturally everyone is keen to see them. So I thought I […]

So what went on in July? To be honest with you I’m now writing the diary and its the end of August so I’m having to trawl the memory banks […]

The following events took place between 1st June and the 30th of June Welcome to the June diary, June has been a busy month for all of us on station, […]

The sun sets for the last time May already… wow. One thing I’ve noticed since arriving down at Halley is just how quickly the time has flown by. It doesn’t […]

February started with a bang. As part of BAS winter training we have an annual major incident scenario to make sure we are all ready and well rehearsed just in […]

Happy New Year from Halley base Antarctica! As 2011 was rung in, I was ‘fresh off the boat’ (RRS Ernest Shackleton) having sailed from the UK eight weeks previously. In […]

The summer season at Halley is the busiest, most important time in the Halley V calendar. Whilst the science and maintenance activities continue all year round it is during the […]

So here we are the final month of our winter. I will finish it how I started, by writing the diary. It has been a great winter with so many […]

The month of September, so often associated with dew on the ground, the rustle of crisp leaves and woodsy aromas back home in the UK, brings a starkly contrasting ambience […]

August already and according to the Halley planners, as it stands, we will soon see our winter finish in just shy of 2 months, but all is not lost! Our […]

I thought I had drawn the short straw having to write the diary for July because, with no birthdays to celebrate and mid-winter festivities behind us, I suspected there might […]

Well here is the June diary, a chance to write something about something? It is now my chance! I’m Craig Douglas Brown, the electrician at Halley and I have the […]

Welcome to the April diary. My name is Matt and I am the wintering Genny mech this year. So what has happened in April? We have had our first proper blows, with […]

So here we are at the start of another winter season at Halley! Since late Feb the numbers on base have dropped from 111 to 11. It has been a […]

Dear Diary, January, as a month, is usually looked forward to not a lot particularly in the UK where the usual rain and fog takes a break to be replaced […]

I’ve now been here just over two weeks. As people become familiar with each other, we get another plane load of new faces and names. For a short while, the […]

November started with all hands on deck as we prepared for the first plane to arrive. The electrician Robert (wrongun) Johnson, plumber Robert (zebedee) Dunn and myself were busy de-winterising […]

As the last month of solitude for the wintering Halley eleven starts, the base gears up for the first of the new intruders to arrive by air. Everyone is busy […]

September saw the first attempt of building an Igloo to which a great deal of time and effort only rewarded us with a half built igloo, which would be nice […]

Halley 89022, Antarctica 89022 is the international weather station number for Halley, a figure I write several times a day in the meteorological register and various other places. It has […]

As I take off from the ice runway at the British Antarctic Survey’s Halley base, situated on the Brunt Ice Shelf (75°34′S 26°34′W), I finally realise I am living and […]

Where’s the sun? After the high winds that blew the last days of April away, we wondered if the breeze would abate to allow us a glimpse of the sun […]

Greetings from everyone at Halley base. February was a month where the summer season was in full swing and there were the usual preparations and maintenance programmes being carried out […]

Hello from the new boy. December was a great month for me, my first full month on the station. This of course meant as the incoming Field GA, lots of […]

Hello everyone! I must apologise to all who are not flower lovers, but it seems apt to start this month’s instalment with another flower… plus I like flowers so that […]

The Sun Returns Could it be a case of pre-Christmas cheer, or early Christmas gifts, or just pure coincidence? What on earth am I on about? Well… it turns out […]

Hello and welcome to the Halley June Diary. June is a very important month for all those wintering in Antarctica. This is because we celebrate Midwinter, this is our Christmas, […]

The darkness cometh… Darkness came slowly, creeping up on us through April like a tiger stalking its prey. Then, ominously, the morning glow through the dining room windows is marching […]

“1, 2, 3, 4, er…d’oh, damn it, I lost count! 1, 2, 3, 4…” By the end of April, the residents of Halley 2008 had experienced “winter” life for just […]

March may be the third month in the Gregorian calendar, but to the hardy Antarctic Heroes at Halley, March might as well be the first. You’re probably asking yourself why… […]

What a busy month! With so many people on Halley, I suppose it’s no surprise but it’s difficult to know where to start: Halley Lifetime studies, Halley VI construction, panels […]

One of the great secrets of the Halley winter is that the period after the end of permanent darkness is filled with bad weather. While the fresh-faced eager first year […]

August already. How time flies. With the coming of the summer light, many of the yearly jobs can now be undertaken, jobs which have been caused by the relentless Antarctic […]

Midwinter Mischief June here was all about Midwinter, the biggest event in the Antarctic calendar. Most people (myself included), spent every spare moment in the run up to Midwinter’s Day […]

New Faces The First New People Arrive At Halley Click here to Go BackThe first arrivals to break the Winter isolation were the Russian/Canadians who came in November in the […]

May be the month of Pirates. No wait, not pirates, I mean Sundown. Or is it Ninjas? I’m going to go with Sundown. A setting Sun, to most people wont […]

The Halley Diary for April 2007 was written by Thomas Spieß (FOCAS UAV scientist). English | Deutsch

From the meteorological view the Antarctic autumn lasts from 1st of march to 31st of May. So, April is right in the middle of the Austral autumn. It is the […]

Aus meteorologischer Sicht dauert der antarktische Herbst vom 1.3. bis zum 31.5. Somit ist der April mittendrin im antarktischen Herbst. Und man wird sich bewusst: Der Sommer mit seinen angenehmen […]

March is an underrated time of year at Halley, falling in the Antarctic Autumn, a season sandwiched between the hustle and bustle of summer and the stunning auroras of winter. […]

February is usually an odd month at Halley. The summer ends, the crowds depart, and Halley is left in the hands of the wintering team once again. A huge amount […]

Unlike last year, when relief finished by New Years Eve, this year the madness started on New Year’s Day. After a week of the ship being stuck 50 miles from […]

Happy New Year! Hope you all had an excellent Christmas as well. It’s been a bit strange here, not being bombarded by the constant Christmas advertising since September it all […]

November — Who needs running water? November at Halley saw an average temperature of -9.2°C, average pressure of 978.8hPa, mean scalar wind speed of 14.8 knots. We had 21 days of […]

October is a busy month here at Halley. We have many winter trips going on and a lot of other stuff to have the base ready for the summer season, […]

August has whizzed by with the return of the sun and the trips to see the Emperor penguins. During the first week of August I was very fortunate to combine […]

July traditionally a month of lulls, was full of anticipation and preparations for the return of the sun to brighten up our days. It got off to a swinging start […]

June is a month which seems to be largely compressed into a week, the week around our winter solstice. Midwinter is a big issue down here, signifying the point at […]

Hello from Halley. This month started off with the May Bank Holiday. In the absence of a maypole we considered dancing round one of the Comms masts but the idea […]

Well, another month passes at Halley. For me, April started with a week on nightshift. As well as the pleasure of cleaning the toilets every night, this was also a […]

Working Hard Winter is on its way. Halley feels almost empty as the summer crowd have escaped and left sixteen happy souls to make the place their own. March is […]

A few words from Alex Gough — Winterer for 2006 Well, everyone’s about to leave us in peace. Almost everyone went early on Saturday morning, but five or six spare […]

New faces At the beginning of the month with the arrival of the aeroplanes new people come to Halley. Basler DC3 The first arrivals to break the Winter isolation were […]

First visitors It feels strange to recall the end of the winter now that summer is in full swing! During November we went on the last of the post winter […]

Perpetual Sunlight Well the month started with a long storm with the pressure dropping off the charts (for those met geeks among us). This kept the Sledge Golf party (Kev […]

The Last Aurora! Are you sure it’s September already? I’m sure it’s already been said but it is amazing how quickly time passes down here. The beginning of the month […]

Sun Up!, written by Mike Rooney As usual, August was a busy, fun packed month. We found ourselves looking eagerly towards the Northern Horizon for a brief hint of the […]

Another month passes quickly, written by Jamie Koplick (Heating/Ventilation Engineer) The month began pretty much the same as all the others, without me realising it! Time really does fly down […]

Midwinter celebrations, written by Bryn Jones (AIS Engineer) June began where May left off, with the temperature hovering around the very chilly mark of -50°C. However, life inside our warm […]

Sundown The month started with the yearly Sundown ceremony, to mark the day that the sun disappears and we start three months of darkness. As the oldest member of the […]

A Chef Writes – knocked together by Kevin (the Sheff-Chef) O’Donnell This month started off with winds of 40 knots and temperatures of −30°C and pretty much stayed the same […]

Winter Trips Deutsch March is always an exciting time at Halley because after the ship has left, winterers begin their winter trips. It is our type of holiday down here […]

M�rz 2005 – Winter Trips English Der Monat M�rz ist in Halley immer ein besonders spannender Monat, weil die �berwinterer, nachdem das Schiff Halley zum letzten Mal f�r dieses Jahr […]

Goodbye to the Shackleton by Craig Nicholls It was a month in which we said goodbye to old friends, the ones who worked all summer getting the base ready for […]

Hoc of Halley by Hoc Baldock, Summer Admin Support After working for BAS for 14 years you feel you know a bit about it, but how different the reality can […]

Summer arrives by Simon Coggins December is always a hectic month at Halley as it signals the end of the months of isolation and the beginning of the busy summer […]

Preparations for Summer By Russ Locke November has been a busy month here at Halley with preparations for the coming summer season well and truly underway. As the winter begins […]

October Web Page By Allan “Tommo” Thomas Hello there, and welcome to October’s web diary. My name is Allan Thomas, I’m Station Electrician, and I shall be your guide this […]

Life at Halley by Jeff Cohen Having past the spring equinox on the 22nd of September the hours of daylight now exceeds the hours of darkness and the amount of […]

The main event at the Caslab this month was the “intensive” these are carried out around the Equinoxes and Solstices when the frequency of data sampling is increased. Instead of […]

Equinoxes and Solstices In the Northern hemisphere the Equinoxes are the two times each year when the length of the day equals the length of the night and are the […]

Digging the melt tank is a daily task which everyone takes turns in doing. It can become one of the worst tasks on the station when the weather turns bad. […]

September saw the end of the second series of the TV serial 24. What will we do on Monday evenings now? As you can see below there is plenty to […]

With the landscape being flat at Halley Kiting gives skiers and snow boarders an extra dimension to their sport. The only other practical options would be ski jouring when the […]

This month has seen new faces visiting the Gym these are people who have singled themselves out in the past as the select few who not only have never used […]

In preparation for the post winter trips and any fieldwork that might be required Ed our GA gave some practice sessions in the garage jumaring up to the garage ceiling […]

Sun up! by Edwyn Dodd August is a busy month at Halley. The end of the 105 or so days or darkness arrives on the 10th-ish (debate about when the […]

A month of birthdays by Graham Gillie July started quietly and after all the midwinter celebrations it was back to work as normal — or as normal as it gets […]

Midwinter by Nigel Colgan Midwinter’s day is approaching and the workshop doors have been busy swinging back and forth with eager base members working away on their midwinter presents to […]

Sundown By Rhian La La caveat: don’t believe anything you read below,- none of us are to be trusted any more!!!! Welcome to May at Halley. Halley in May. Mad […]

Pish Tash By Vanessa O’Brien April has seen the end of the first winter trips and for two weeks the base has been at full capacity. It is very odd […]

Bath Time By Stéphane Bauguitte Page en Français March was punctuated by three week-long pre-winter field trips, with Sledge Bravo, Sledge Charlie and Sledge Delta boldly going where Sledge Alpha […]

Page de Mars 2004 par St�phane Bauguitte Page in English Le mois de Mars a �t� ponctu� par trois voyages pr�-hivernaux d�une dur�e d�une semaine chacun, les tra�neaux Bravo, Charlie […]

Visitors! By Craig Nicholls Well hello to you all…! It has been a totally packed February you couldn’t squeeze anymore in if you tried… Visitors?… we’ve had more than you […]

Gavin Francis (Base Doctor) New Year, new Halley wintering team, and a lot of new faces at Halley (mine being one of them). Jon Seddon, 2002 AIS engineer, has handed […]

Apologies for the tardiness of this first diary installment of 2004. Life at Halley has been very hectic to say the least since RRS Ernest Shackleton arrived for first call […]

Planes, cranes & snowmobiles by Mark Maltby, SHARE Engineer December has mainly been a month of Planes, Ships, Snowcats, Cranes, Dozers and doos. Plane loads of cargo and people continued early […]

Summer has arrived! by Gavin Francis, Base Doctor Summer has arrived! There has been a lot going on in November. The post-winter field trips all returned, the sea-ice is breaking […]

Halley House of Horror Halloween Special Written by Craig Nicholson Chief pot and bottle washer The following diary took place between the 1st October 2003 and 31st October 2003. All events, […]

Spring by Robert Shortman, Base Plumber Hello to all! This month has been the start of the post winter trips so everybody is getting ready to get away from base […]

By Stuart Colley, Meteorologist Without a doubt, the most important event this month has been the return of the Sun after 103 days. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve […]

By Annette Faux, Meteorologist This month for all of us wintering in the Antarctic has been overshadowed by the tragedy at Rothera. Our thoughts have been very much with the […]

By Elaine Cowie, Meteorologist June has been a very busy month as this month we celebrated a very important date 21st June, Mid-Winters Day. So we can officially say that […]

By Allan Thomas Hello from the land of darkness and cold! Can you hear me? May has definitely been a month of ups and downs for us all here at […]

By Paul Torode April has been a very quiet month at Halley, characterised by a steady decrease in daylight hours as the winter approaches. For many of us wintering for […]

By Russ Locke (AIS Engineer) Finding things to put into this months diary has been an easy job because we’ve been so busy here since the RRS Ernest Shackleton left […]

February has been a whirlwind month with the arrival and departure of the ship RRS Ernest Shackleton on it’s second and final call to the station, the realigning of the […]

Gavin Francis (Base Doctor) New Year, new Halley wintering team, and a lot of new faces at Halley (mine being one of them). Jon Seddon, 2002 AIS engineer, has handed […]