Signy Research Station (originally Station H) is an Antarctic research base on

Signy Island Signy Island is a small subantarctic island in the South Orkney Islands of Antarctica. It was named by the Norwegian whaler Petter Sørlle (1884–1933) after his wife, Signy Therese. The island is about long and wide and rises to above se ...

, 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 global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...

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 islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

Orcadas Base ) , subdivision_type4 = Location , subdivision_name4 = Laurie Island , established_title1 = Established , established_date1 = 1903 , established_title2 = Founded , established_date2 = , elevation_m ...

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 Petter Sørlle (February 16, 1884 – May 29, 1933) was a Norwegian whaling captain and inventor. Biography Petter Martin Mattias Koch Sørlle was born at Tune (now Sarpsborg) in Østfold, Norway. Both his father and grandfather had been sailors ...

, 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 The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice ( glaciers), sea le ...

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. undra climate https://www.britannica.com/science/tundra-climateThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019 It is classified as ET according to Köppen ...

(''ET'' according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

), 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 cool 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