Aurora Australis over the Halley VI Research Station in Antarctica
© Stuart Holroyd/Alam
Southern lights for Antarctica Day
In honour of Antarctica Day, you're seeing the southern lights dazzle above Halley VI, the latest version of the six-decade-old Halley Research Station in the British Antarctic Territory. The modular building stands on hydraulic legs and is movable via retractable skis. The five previous facilities, Halley I–V, were each compromised by Antarctica's harsh climate and were decommissioned. Since 2017, while scientists monitor dangerous cracks in the surrounding Brunt Ice Shelf, Halley has been unmanned during the dark Antarctic winter months—but the research team equipped it with an autonomous micro-turbine that keeps its atmospheric instruments ticking as the snowdrifts pile up.
The first Antarctica Day was Dec. 1, 1959, when twelve nations peacefully agreed to dedicate Earth's southernmost continent to the pursuit of science by signing the Antarctic Treaty. That agreement, adopted by both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. amid the accelerating Cold War, stands 60 years later as an important landmark in global relations and has expanded to include 54 countries.
Related Images
Geomagnetic storm at night, Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
Goðafoss waterfall under the northern lights, Iceland
Northern Lights over open water in winter near Whitehorse, Yukon
Aurora borealis above the Brooks Range in Alaska
Comet NEOWISE streaks across the sky over Sunwapta Lake in Jasper National Park, Alberta
Northern lights and wild reindeer on the tundra in Norway
Inukshuk silhouetted against the Northern Lights in Barren Lands, Northwest Territories
Northern lights near Whitehorse in Yukon
Today on Bing
Icebergs, Antarctica
Lake Minnewanka, Alberta, Canada
Paradise Harbour, Antarctica
