The summers are short at a latitude of 71 degrees South. Here, just 2,000 kilometres from the South Pole, on the 200-metre-thick Ekström Ice Shelf, is where you will find the Neumayer III station of the German Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI). The research station, which opened in February 2009, can only be reached by supply ships for four months of the year before the ice builds up again on the Antarctic Ocean and the storm season begins. A winter season on the station lasts 15 months. The complex of buildings offers room for a maximum of eleven people – usually, however, the crew consists of nine men and women.
The research team is made up of four scientists specializing in meteorology, geophysics and atmospheric chemistry as well as three engineers for the fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and information technology. They are also joined by a cook and a doctor, with the latter acting as station director. “In effect we live here together in a kind of flat share,” says Gerhard Weigand, who has assumed this highly responsible post. The difference is that the flatmates themselves were not able to choose who they were going to live with. “Nevertheless, there are practically no tensions; after all, we all share similar interests and a common goal,” explains the doctor. In the sunlight with a room temperature of just under 20 degrees Celsius a good mood prevails here on the ice.
A commission of experts at the Alfred Wegener Institute decides who is allowed to carry out research in the Antarctic. Neither gender nor nationality play a role – the important thing is the individual’s qualifications for the respective job. “And a stable mental state,” explains Saad El Naggar, scientific-technological director of AWI research platforms and the person responsible for building the new Neumayer station. The contract for an Antarctic assignment lasts two years. Before the journey to the South Pole begins, the scientists and engineers complete an extensive training programme and an environmental protection seminar. The researchers who also work at the station or in its vicinity during the summer months also have to complete these training courses. From mid-November to mid-March, up to 50 people can live at Neumayer III – or be supplied from here within a distance of 500 kilometres. The station is designed as a logistical centre and has a fleet of tracked vehicles, mobile cranes and cargo sledges available. It also has a store of Antarctic-proof tents and packed provisions to facilitate longer expeditions.
The station’s most important task, however, is continuing the series of measurements begun in the earlier stations Georg von Neumayer (1981–1992) and Neumayer II (1992–2009). “Maintaining these long-term studies is a mission for generations,” says Weigand. Although the researchers analyze the collected data immediately, scientists will only be able to draw accurate conclusions from much of it in a hundred years’ time. “We hope that we can compile a relatively comprehensive archive of the changes in the earth’s atmosphere and climate as well as in plate tectonics,” explains Weigand.
Four observatories are in constant operation to carry out the necessary studies. “Every day we launch probes that record the profile of the atmosphere as they rise into the air,” explains El Naggar. This makes it possible to determine the composition of gases and levels of air pollution as well as record changes in the ozone layer. For weather analyses probes also measure air temperature, pressure, humidity as well as wind speed and direction. The Neumayer III station even has an infrasound array as part of the International Monitoring System (IMS) that oversees nuclear activities such as nuclear bomb tests. This data goes online directly to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna where it is evaluated by experts.
The Neumayer III station has been designed to operate for at least 25 years. It will not leave any trace in the environment because it can be totally dismantled. The research platform offers its residents considerably greater comfort than its two predecessors. “Above all, we now have windows,” enthuses station director Weigand. The view of the outside enormously reduces the mental strain, even if the sun doesn’t appear for two months during the winter. Yet there is still one thing that the crew members do miss in the eternal ice – fresh lettuce.
