Episodes
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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 AgencyNASA - the National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationDEFIANT - Drivers and Effects of Fluctuations in sea Ice in the ANTarcticCRYOVEX - CRYOsat Validation EXperimentCryoSat-2 - it's not an acronym, 'cryo' just means iceICESat-2 - Ice, Cloud and land Elevation SatelliteDash-7 - also not an acronym, it's the nickname of the de Havilland Canada DHC-7 aircraft -
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. -
Missing episodes?
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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. -
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). -
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. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
From living beside a growing ice chasm, to signing up to live in Antarctica through dark Antarctic Winter - Jaskiran Nagi and Jonathan Witherstone are electronics engineers with a shared love of knowing how things work and being outdoors.
Jas chats about his work at Halley Research Station and maintaining the seismic instruments on the ice shelf there, and Jonathan reveals the surprisingly low-tech secrets behind maintaining comms in the snow at Rothera Research Station.
Iceworld is presented by marine biologist Nadia Frontier, produced in partnership with Boffin Media; cover photo by Dani Stewart. -
Featuring ammonites shaped like giant paperclips, curry cooking in the field, and emergency mud liquidation techniques - this team of fossil hunters are fresh off their expedition to Antarctica's Seymour Island. Led by Dr Rowan Whittle from British Antarctic Survey (BAS), they want to understand how life on the Antarctic sea floor evolved over the last 100 million years.
Host Nadia Frontier chats to Rowan about leading her first major Antarctic expedition, along with team members Dr James Witts from the Natural History Museum, BAS paleobiologist Dr Saurav Dutta, and Field Guide Sam Hunt.
Iceworld is presented by marine biologist Nadia Frontier, produced in partnership with Boffin Media. -
Meteorologist Jo Cole chats to Nadia Frontier about fixing weather stations in remote locations, and seeing the sun return after Winter from the top of a mountain.
Being a meteorologist in Antarctica is a busy job! From launching weather balloons, to making hourly observations to support flights on the frozen continent, the information captured is important for safe operations *and* science.
Produced in partnership with Boffin Media. -
In a conversation ranging from ice climbing to the trials of wearing a kilt in Antarctica, Nadia chats to Niall Macleod, the Plant Operator at Rothera Research Station through Antarctic Winter.
Niall's route to Antarctica was through agriculture, quarrying and civil engineering - before deciding that he wanted to do something for the environment. His job is to look after the research station's unusual machinery, and to keep the snow at bay as it blows through in the darkest period of the year. In his own words: he likes helping people.
This episode's Antarctic glossary:'Snowcat' - a big truck on caterpillar tracks that can be used to clear snow or tow heavy loads.'Scheds' - the high frequency radio communication set up at field camps so that the station can communicate with field parties.'Smooth Operator' - the name of Niall's claimed climbing route... and tongue-in-cheek nickname for himself.Iceworld is presented and recorded by Nadia Frontier, and produced in partnership with Boffin Media. -
A field guide is one of the most highly skilled and varied jobs in Antarctica. From accompanying scientists on expeditions, training their colleagues to survive on the ice and fixing sledges, there's never a dull day.
Polar field guides Ed Luke and Matthew Shepherd talk to Nadia about life on the ice and extreme camping.
Produced in partnership with Boffin Media; cover photo by Ed Luke. -
How many people can say they've lost count of their visits to Antarctica? In this special International Women's Day episode, Professor Dame Jane Francis (Director of British Antarctic Survey) chats to Nadia about her journey into science, fossil hunting in Antarctic mud, launching the RRS Sir David Attenborough with Sir David Attenborough, and leading change.
Iceworld is presented by marine biologist Nadia Frontier, produced in partnership with Boffin Media. -
Imagine cooking for 160 with only frozen, tinned and dried food... for a whole season. We all know the stomach is the route to the heart, so the meals need to feel fresh, nourishing and varied. Chefs might have the most important job at Rothera Research Station!
In this episode, Summer chef Sadhbh Moore chats to host Nadia Frontier about food sustainability, pickling and preserving, and channelling Hemsley + Hemsley. Winter Chef Katy talks about cooking with staff as the solo chef on station, her love of skiing, and the instinctive recipe adaptations that are part of being a chef in Antarctica.
Produced in partnership with Boffin Media. -
Ryan talks to host Nadia Frontier about the extraordinary experience of living in Antarctica through the dark winter - the adventures, the challenges, and preparing for the arrival of the summer community.
Ryan Mathews was the Marine Assistant at Rothera Research Station, where he works on scientific diving in Antarctica's icy waters, and in the on-site laboratory (The Bonner Lab).
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Produced in partnership with Boffin Media; cover photograph of Ryan Mathews by Marek Figielski. -
Stu McManus was the Winter Electrician at Rothera Research Station in 2022 - and due to unforeseen circumstances, he was the only person responsible for electrics across the season. His first Antarctic job was at King Edward Point Research Station on South Georgia.
Stu talks to host Nadia Frontier about overcoming imposter syndrome, camping in the Antarctic wilderness, and how his career as an electrician has helped him travel around the world.
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In case you missed them, here's an explanation of some of the Antarctic jargon:Vikings - an accommodation block at RotheraSky Blu - a fuel depot used to supply the aircraft carrying field parties N2 - a mountainLagoon - an island south of RotheraDash - the larger aircraft BAS use---
Cover photograph of Stu McManus by Catherine Maguire. Produced in partnership with Boffin Media. -
Featuring buried festive duck, the A23a megaberg, and the mysterious 'King Neptune's Court'. What's it like to explore and study the remote frozen places where people have never been before? Nadia Frontier talks to Captain Matt Neill of the Royal Research Ship Sir David Attenborough from the Southern Ocean, and geologist and experienced Antarctic field scientist Jo Johnson.
Produced in partnership with Boffin Media. -
Featuring a missing frozen turkey, après-ski cinema, and Antarctic Secret Santa. Nadia Frontier talks to the team at Rothera Research Station about spending the festive season in Antarctica. How does this remote community make Christmas special while investigating climate change in Earth's frozen places?
Produced in partnership with Boffin Media. -
Imagine being the person in charge of keeping the power on at a research base in Antarctica. That's Joe's job, no pressure. Joe Clay was the Generator Mechanic at Rothera Research Station during Antarctic Winter 2022.
Joe chats to host Nadia Frontier about finding his calling with an apprenticeship in the Merchant Navy, travelling the world as an engineer, and getting used to living in an extreme polar environment. Who inspired Joe to overcome his imposter syndrome for a job at British Antarctic Survey? And what exactly is the Gen Shed? - Show more
