Page 22 - Best of 2019 English

UFOs in the perpetual ice
Improbable research stations in Antarctica: how steel protects researchers and their equipment from the hazards of snow, wind and ice at the South Pole
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Some research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic are no more than a collection of containers, huts or even tents. Others would
pass as the backdrop for a science fiction movie with their spaceship-like appearance – after all, the climatic conditions in the ice are as hostile to life as those in space.
Temperatures far below freezing point, icy, ra- zor-sharp winds and snowdrifts several meters high that can bury an entire station underneath pose tremendous challenges for architects and designers. On top of this there are the logistics requirements for communication and supply lines. What is more, planners are called upon to reduce psychological strain on the scientists caused by their isolation – and all this under the pressure of tight budgets and strict instructions to protect the ecosystem.
The results are futuristic structures made of steel, or at least with a steel outer surface that is capable of withstanding the weather. Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Station, inaugurated in 2009, is an 80 % wood structure, for example. The outer surface
– only 1.5 mm thick and made of highly resilient stainless steel – not only protects the structure from the weather, it also stops water from penetrating the wood. For India’s Bharati station, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH supplied steel with a novel zinc-magnesium coating that is highly resistant to corrosion.
Halley VI has an even more bizarre appearance than the Princess Elisabeth UFO: it is reminis- cent of a herd of long-legged steel creatures. The
British have been operating a research station on the Brunt Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea since early 1956, but Halley I-IV was buried and destroyed by the snow. Learning from this experience, Halley V was erected in 1989 on a steel platform, but it had to be raised annually to keep it away from the ice and snow. As the ice edge approached, the building was replaced with a new structure before being demolished in 2012.
Halley VI is now the first mobile research station: the steel supports of the eight modules stand on skis that are 3.9 meters in length. The first time the steel giants had to move was when cracks appeared in the ice in 2016. Over a period of 13 weeks the modules were shifted 13 km to the east. In Feb- ruary 2019, the station was evacuated because a nearby iceberg was at risk of breaking off, putting the stability of the ice shelf itself at risk.
The German polar research station
Neumayer III, run by the Alfred Wegener Insti- tute, also stands on steel stilts. Steel baseplates are positioned underneath the stilts: they are so deep in the snow that the space between them can be used as a roofed-over parking lot. The legs are adjustable in height, raising the platform by 60
to 100 cm each year. This station is also mobile
in its own way: it floats 200 meters out to sea every year on the ice shelf. Meanwhile, the USA’s Amundsen-Scott station has entirely different characteristics: it is located close to the South Pole at an altitude of 2,835 meters; temperatures here average -49 °C and can drop to -82 °C.