Signy Research Station (originally Station H) is an Antarctic research base on Signy Island, run by the

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of list of global issues, global issues, and to provide an active prese ...

History

Signy was first occupied in 1947 when a three-man meteorological station was established in Factory Cove above the old whaling station. It was the second research base on the

South Orkney Islands The South Orkney Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands, islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

Orcadas Base in 1903). In 1955, a new hut, Tønsberg House was built on the site of the whaling station. In 1963, it was turned into a laboratory for biological research. Initially operated year-round, since 1995/6 the station has been open from November to April each year (southern hemisphere summer).

Facilities

Today, the base has four buildings with capacity for 8 people. The main building, Sørlle House (named after the whaling captain Petter Sørlle, who himself named Signy Island), provides living accommodation and laboratories. The other buildings are for storage and provision of power and water services. There are also four small huts around the island. A light railway was constructed in 1963 for unloading stores and large items of machinery. When built, this was the southernmost railway in existence. It was later extended up a hill to reach the fuel tanks.

Research

Marine and terrestrial biology is carried out at Signy, particularly looking at the

effects of climate change Effects of climate change are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment and human societies. Changes to the climate system include an Instrumental temperature record, overall warming trend, Effects of climate change on the ...

on the southern ocean ecosystems. Three species of penguin ( Adélie, chinstrap and gentoo) are monitored at the base. To continue an original time series of visual sea ice observations after the station became summer-only, an automated sea ice camera now operates all year around, providing a continuous record of sea ice extent near the station for over 50 years.

Climate

Signy Research Station has a

tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. It is classified as ET according to the Köppen climate classification. It is a climate which at least one month has an average temperature high enough ...

(''ET'' according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

), because all twelve months have a mean temperature under . Signy Research Station has very long, cold winters (although they are mild for Antarctic standards) and short, cool summers. It has only three months with the average temperature above freezing point. The temperature is consistently cold year-round, with August, the coldest month, having a mean of and an average low of . February is the warmest month, with a mean of and an average high of . The highest temperature ever recorded was on 30 January 1982, which is the highest temperature recorded anywhere south of 60°S, and the lowest recorded temperature was in June.

References

External links