Fact of the Day

There are 17 species of penguin in the world and five of these breed in the Antarctic; the Emperor penguin is the only one to breed during the Antarctic winter. These two guys were spotted in Crown Bay when the SA Agulhas was being unloaded back in January.

Inside the workshop. Picture by Spencer Smirl with Richmond Dykes just about visible. Can you spot him?

98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages more than a mile thick. If you exclude the ice shelves and islands, this percentages gets close to 99.7%.

To many people, Antarctica is one of the most fascinating places on Earth. Whether it be its remoteness, its extreme weather, its extraordinary landscapes and features, or just by virtue of the fact that there is still so much unknown about this isolated land, the continent captures the imagination like no other. Starting today we are going to be posting interesting facts, figures and phrases…

With the Met observations and GPS trials continuing daily in spite of the blizzard, today was the first time in more than two weeks that the winds have dropped enough to allow the team outside to work in earnest. The team took the opportunity to begin a new snow sampling regime, as well as some digging out of Cat’s. Brian Newham also managed to get this picture of camp. The intentions for…

In this video Ian Prickett reports from camp, where the Ice Team have been more or less confined to the indoors for more than two weeks as they wait for a monster blizzard to blow out. &nbs…

Mid-winter dream of winds easing didn’t happen! 14 days and counting… (picture by Ian Prickett)…

In the Antarctic community the winter solstice is a significant event for it marks the slow return of the sun. The latitude of where you are on the continent will determine how long the winter darkness lasts but for all who winter here the passage of Mid-Winter’s Day is a very significant event. It means that the sun is slowly on its way back and the day when it actually appears above t…

This afternoon it was our pleasure to receive this message of support from Colonel John Blashford-Snell, President of the Scientific Exploration Society, who kindly invited us to share it with our followers. “I have read the progress reports of the expedition with much admiration, although no envy! Without doubt Brian Newham and his team deserve the highest praise for their incredible effort in…

Following today’s announcement, Ice Team Leader Brian Newham talks to camera about what was ultimately his decision to put a halt to the first ever attempt to cross the Antarctic in winter. The video includes footage of the Cat D6Ns getting into tricky situations on the ice, as well as providing an idea of the science work that is being carried out by the team and will remain an extremely…