Episodes

  • S4 Ep3: The operation to survey sea ice - from land, sky and satellite

    S4 Ep3: The operation to survey sea ice - from land, sky and satellite
    Nov 25 2024
    Flying low over ice in a timed dance with satellites. Digging 52m of ice cores out on the frozen sea. This is a team tackling Antarctica's sea ice question from every angle!
    In this group interview, teams from the DEFIANT* and CRYOVEX* projects talk about their epic campaign to 'ground-truth' the data collected from two important satellites that monitor Antarctic sea ice - ESA's CryoSat-2 and NASA's ICESat-2. This calibration work makes sure we know more about how the thickness of Antarctica's sea ice - helping us predict how climate changes will affect ocean circulation and ecology.
    Nadia Frontier is joined by guest host Matt Hughes, and members of the project team Andy Shepherd, Inès Otosaka, Sebastian Simonsen, Isobel Lawrence and Gaëlle Veyssière, and BAS' Head of Airborne Survey Technology, Carl Robinson.
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    *Acronym Busting:
    • ESA - the European Space Agency
    • NASA - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    • DEFIANT - Drivers and Effects of Fluctuations in sea Ice in the ANTarctic
    • CRYOVEX - CRYOsat Validation EXperiment
    • CryoSat-2 - it's not an acronym, 'cryo' just means ice
    • ICESat-2 - Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite
    • Dash-7 - also not an acronym, it's the nickname of the de Havilland Canada DHC-7 aircraft
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    21 mins
  • S4 Ep2: Evolving in the cold with Professor Melody Clark and Dr Simon Morley

    S4 Ep2: Evolving in the cold with Professor Melody Clark and Dr Simon Morley
    Nov 8 2024
    Who's watching out for the creatures at the bottom of the Southern Ocean? Geneticist Professor Melody Clark and ecophysiologist Dr Simon Morley talk about their decades of work understanding the animals who have evolved to survive in the world's coldest waters.
    From antifreeze fish to nail-varnish-wearing limpets, and from the gut microbiome of sea cucumbers to anti-microbial resistance, Melody takes us on a whistle stop tour of some of the main characters she's been studying in Antarctica. Meanwhile, Simon talks about his journey into studying the marine life around the frozen continent - and what the effect of warming will be on these creatures. He talks about the climate, optimism, and what you can do as an individual to make change.
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    Welcome to Antarctica. What's it like living and working in one of the most extreme environments in the world? From polar scientists to plumbers, ICEWORLD is a series of interviews with ordinary people who are doing extraordinary jobs in Antarctica. The team talk climate science, extreme living, expeditions and becoming a community.
    A podcast from British Antarctic Survey, hosted and recorded by marine biologist Nadia Frontier. Produced in partnership with Boffin Media.
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    22 mins
  • S4 Ep1: Piloting flights from Canada to Antarctica, with Vicky Auld and Olly Smith

    S4 Ep1: Piloting flights from Canada to Antarctica, with Vicky Auld and Olly Smith
    Oct 21 2024
    The annual migration to the frozen continent begins! Host Nadia Frontier speaks to British Antarctic Survey pilots Vicky Auld and Olly Smith just before they begin ferrying aircraft down the spine of the Americas - from Canada to Punta Arenas on the tip of Chile, then on to Antarctica.
    From views of the Andes to the first glimpse of white mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula, Vicky and Olly talk through the epic journey and the big to do list on their arrival. They chat about the years they both had pushing for piloting roles at BAS, working towards meeting the high qualification and experience requirements for the Air Unit.
    How do you decide the priority list of ferrying people into Antarctica? What are 'freshies'? And what happens to magnetic navigation instruments at the South Pole?
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    Welcome to Antarctica. What's it like living and working in one of the most extreme environments in the world? From polar scientists to plumbers, ICEWORLD is a series of interviews with ordinary people who are doing extraordinary jobs in Antarctica. The team talk climate science, extreme living, expeditions and becoming a community.
    A podcast from British Antarctic Survey, hosted and recorded by marine biologist Nadia Frontier. Produced in partnership with Boffin Media.
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    30 mins
  • S3 Ep14: The Life Antarctic, with marine biologist Nadia Frontier

    S3 Ep14: The Life Antarctic, with marine biologist Nadia Frontier
    Aug 28 2024
    Sometimes you ease yourself into a new job - and sometimes you move straight to Antarctica for two winters.

    In the final episode of series 3, host Nadia Frontier takes a turn in the hot seat, opening up about her 'double winter' living at Rothera Research Station.

    Interviewed at King Edward Point by Louis Day (meet him in series 3, episode 1).
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    23 mins
  • S3 Ep13: Ash Shinn is looking after your Antarctic research station

    S3 Ep13: Ash Shinn is looking after your Antarctic research station
    Aug 14 2024
    Do you have to get past hundreds of fur seals to get to work? Ash Shinn does - but there's no fresh water, heating or toilets at Antarctic research stations without him.
    Ash apparently can't get enough of working in Antarctica. He's done a real tour of Antarctic Stations almost continuously since 2021 - he worked at BAS a through the winter at Rothera Research Station as a Mechanical Maintenance Technician, before going to New Zealand owned Scott Base, where temperatures plunged to -40°C. Host Nadia Frontier interviews him on their new deployment overwinter at the comparatively warm and green BAS King Edward Point station in South Georgia.
    Nadia and Ash chat about what it's like to have worked at all these different stations, the ins and outs of Ash's job, and taking the time to appreciate the scenery when Antarctica starts to feel ordinary. What keeps Ash coming back to Antarctica season after season? What's it like looking after a remote station that's running mostly on hydro-electricity? And what, exactly, is a Reverse Osmosis Plant?
    ICEWORLD is hosted and recorded by marine biologist Nadia Frontier, and produced in partnership with Boffin Media.
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    17 mins
  • S3 Ep12: Yes, diving in Antarctica is COLD - with Jack Gordon and Mike Lindsell

    S3 Ep12: Yes, diving in Antarctica is COLD - with Jack Gordon and Mike Lindsell
    Jul 31 2024
    Have you ever wondered what it's like to go diving in the freezing ocean around Antarctica? Meet Jack Gordon and Mike Lindsell, Field Dive Officers at Rothera Research Station, who are no strangers to braving immersion down to -1.8°C during winter. Their job is to look after the safety of marine scientists as they study life deep in Antarctic waters.
    In this episode, host Nadia Frontier chats to Jack about his adventures during his 7th season South - from the highs of spotting local penguins, to evacuating a dive in sudden changing conditions. Later in the show, Nadia chats to experienced commercial diver Mike about his first winter in Antarctica, after a number of years auditing and training divers for British Antarctic Survey.
    Today's Antarctic lingo:
    • 'Dingle Day' - a beautiful, sunny and clear day
    • 'Winter trip' - as part of wintering at Rothera, the team can go on short exploratory expeditions.
    • 'Winter gift' - winterers at Rothera learn and deploy their craft skills to make each other gifts to mark Midwinter's Day!
    Iceworld is presented by marine biologist Nadia Frontier, and produced in partnership with Boffin Media.
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    23 mins
  • S3 Ep11: Fixing Skidoos in Antarctica with Matthew McPherson

    S3 Ep11: Fixing Skidoos in Antarctica with Matthew McPherson
    Jul 10 2024
    Vehicle mechanic Matthew McPherson chats to Nadia Frontier about fixing skidoos, his love for building snow tunnels and skiing. It's no surprise that Matthew's draw to Antarctica started with his fascination of snow.
    This episode was recorded live in the Rothera garage, a location where plant is maintained and specialists parts are machined on a metal lathe.
    Cover photograph of plant operator Angus and Vehicle Mechanic Matthew McPherson snow clearing the runway by Sam Hunt. This episode is produced in partnership with Boffin Media.
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    17 mins
  • S3: Happy Midwinter, from King Edward Point Research Station

    S3: Happy Midwinter, from King Edward Point Research Station
    Jun 21 2024
    Welcome to the longest night of the dark Antarctic winter - and the biggest celebration in the polar calendar. Coming to you (almost) live from King Edward Point (KEP) Research Station on the sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia, Nadia Frontier chats to five members of the team as they prepare their hand-made gifts, limber up for the station olympics, and think about friends and family at home.
    Midwinter is celebrated every year on 21 June by all of the stations of different nations across the frozen South. This year, host Nadia is one of the nine intrepid winterers at KEP who will be marking their journey half way out of the dark.
    Featured in this episode are: Winter Station Leader Cameron Fox-Clarke, Marine Biologist Katie Wells, Mechanical Maintenance Technician Ash Shinn, Doctor Tom Hubbard, and Boating Officer Louis Day.
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    26 mins