Iceworld

Can you be plant-based in Antarctica? Can you go South if you have food allergies, or other dietary restrictions? What's on the menu when you're 1,000 miles from the nearest supermarket?In this episode of Iceworld, Nadia is joined by three members of the team at King Edward Point - boating officer AJ, station leader Cameron, and doctor Tom - all of whom are vegan. Together, they discuss what it's really like to maintain a plant-based diet at one of the most remote research stations on Earth, from dairy-free milk deliveries to improvised fish pie (not everyone's favourite, it turns out).After that, Nadia speaks with Olivier Hubert, BAS catering manager and experienced chef. Olivier reveals the sheer scale of feeding five Antarctic research stations - some of which receive fresh food just once a year, how the kitchen manages everything from severe allergies to religious dietary requirements, and why a well-timed dessert buffet might just be the most important morale tool on station.Tune in to discover how food becomes far more than fuel at the bottom of the world, and why, when the weather closes in and the workload piles up, a good meal can make all the difference.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------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.

What does it take to keep aircraft flying at the bottom of the world?In this episode of Iceworld, Nadia is joined by Eli Arseneault and Jeremie Amurao, two aircraft engineers from Rocky Mountain Aircraft who are based at the British Antarctic Survey's Rothera Research Station. Together, they discuss the unique challenges of maintaining Twin Otter aircraft in one of the most demanding environments on Earth - from ski landings on sastrugi to troubleshooting snags in freezing temperatures.This is Eli's third Antarctic season, and Jeremie's first. They share what it's like to ferry a Twin Otter all the way from Calgary to Antarctica, why there's no such thing as a typical day in the Rothera hangar and how witnessing glacial retreat first-hand has changed their perspective on climate change.Tune in to hear about the camaraderie, the challenges, and why they believe the BAS Twin Otters are the finest in the world.

Emma Pearce is a geophysicist… or a glaciologist - depending on who you speak to. What remains constant, however, is her dedication to understanding ice in Antarctica - and you can't do that without the right clothing! So, what do you wear to work when your office is on an Antarctic ice shelf? Emma discovered the answer involves far more than a trip to Primark. From base layers to extreme cold weather boots, preparing for Antarctic deployment means learning an entirely new approach to staying warm. Host Nadia Frontier speaks with Emma about the thorough preparation that goes into simply getting dressed when working in Antarctica. Emma also discusses her work on the RIFT-TIP project, where she spent six weeks living in a camp to study the Halloween Crack - a major fracture on the Brunt Ice Shelf - to understand how ice shelves break apart and what that means for our changing climate. When she's not studying ice cracks? She's crocheting pigeons of course! This episode explores what it takes to dress for Antarctica, Emma’s journey to working at British Antarctic Survey, and what it's like to study the constantly evolving cracks on the Brunt Ice Shelf. ---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.

So, you're going to Antarctica. But what skills and training do you need to live and work there? That's the question that faces every person who is offered a job with British Antarctic Survey to work South - and there's a long to-do list, including two weeks of Pre-Deployment Training (PDT) at BAS HQ in Cambridge. During PDT, future-Antarcticans learn everything from polar hygiene to chemical safety and firefighting, as well as meeting the people they’ll be living with on station. Think "first day of school" nerves! In this episode, host Nadia Frontier meets Michaela Boak, Deployment Support Coordinator. They discuss how to prepare for deployment to Antarctica (including the importance of the ceilidh social), the support available during deployment, and how Michaela’s own experience South shaped her perspective on training the UK's Antarctic team. What are the challenges of preparing to work in such an extreme environment? How do the experts plan training that will keep everyone safe? And what training does it take to become an Antarctican? ---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.

Dominic Jaques' job is like being a remote-control engineer for one of the most isolated places on Earth! As a computer engineer at Halley VI Research Station on Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf, Dom has to be ready to look after the systems and science at Halley when it's staffed in summer, and when the station is empty and automated in Antarctic Winter.Dom talks to host Nadia Frontier about his six-year Antarctic career, from the technical challenges of keeping an automated research station running 9,000 miles away, to the more unexpected parts of his job - like stepping in as head chef during the Covid season and building his own private igloo that became a legendary invite-only tea spot. From debugging micro-turbine software that fails in extreme cold, to learning how to make bread that actually fits in the toasters, this is a job that demands both serious technical expertise and serious creativity in problem-solving.---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. Episode cover byMaciej Piętowski.

As the UK's largest Antarctic base, Rothera Research Station, celebrates its 50th birthday, host Nadia Frontier assembles a portrait of Rothera past and present. This episode features four fascinating perspectives on heritage, community and the importance of change.Alysa Fisher offers an archivist's account of the station's early years - from the wartime beginnings of the UK's Antarctic presence, to the highly popular dogs who used to live at the station, as well as what bits of history can be found embedded into modern station life.Outgoing Head of the BAS Air Unit, Rod Arnold, talks about how the people and the place have evolved across his 26 years of service; current Tower Supervisor Matt Hughes chats about the aircraft (and whales) he's seen from the new Operations Tower; and Station Leader Aurelia Reichardt talks science operations, leadership, and what it takes to keep a community going in this frozen wilderness.--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. Cover photo by Matt Hughes.

For medics dreaming of an adventure, there's nothing quite like being deployed for a season to Antarctica. The role of doctor on an Antarctic research station or research ship is a huge responsibility - in an emergency, external help could be days or weeks away.In this episode, Nadia speaks to Dr Nisha Mistry, who is currently working as the doctor on the polar ship RRS Sir David Attenborough, and Dr Rebecca Boys, was one of the doctors at Rothera Research Station in 2022. They talk about what it takes to prepare for deployment, learning to tackle dentistry for the first time, and the unique and trusted role that doctors have looking after communities in one of the most extreme environments on Earth.---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.

In this special International Women’s Day episode, host Nadia Frontier takes a look back at some of her most memorable conversations with women at the British Antarctic Survey. This episode celebrates the incredible women pushing boundaries, breaking stereotypes, and shaping the future of science in one of the world’s most extreme environments. Professor Dame Jane Francis reflects on her remarkable journey from early fieldwork in Antarctica to becoming the Director of BAS. Geologist Dr Jo Johnson shares her experiences working in some of the most remote and challenging places on Earth, all while balancing the demands of family life. Chef Katy Rumm talks about her adventurous leap from fine dining to cooking in Antarctica’s remote kitchens, turning limited ingredients into incredible meals. Pilot Vicky Auld opens up about her unexpected path to flying the BAS Twin Otters and the power of seizing opportunities when they come your way. Finally, Nadia revisits her conversation with young researchers Laura Taylor and Kat Turner, who are making their mark on the BIOPOLE cruise, helping to advance climate science in the Southern Ocean. ---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. Cover photo of Katie Wells by John Dickens.

Every iceberg starts life attached to an ice shelf - until a crack travels deep through the ice and it breaks away. Predicting the way ice shelves will crack is still a major uncertainty in climate models. Cue an epic fieldwork project to the Larsen C Ice Shelf - featuring 'suture ice', hot water drilling, and some clever use of fibre optic cables.What's it like to camp out in the middle of the icy wilderness? How do you deal with dietary requirements when you're eating field rations? What's it like to abseil into an ice shelf? When does the toilet tent start presenting logistical problems? And what, exactly, is a drilling 'blubber'?Nadia Frontier and Matt Hughes chat to the RiPIce team (Rift Propagation for Ice Sheet Models) about their fieldwork - Katie Miles from Aberystwyth University, Sarah Thompson from University of Tasmania representing the Australian Antarctic Programme, and Adrian Luckman from Swansea University.---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. Photography by Sam Hunt.

Where better to study clouds than from a plane? Host Nadia Frontier speaks to British Antarctic Survey cloud physicist Floortje Van Den Heuvel about her fieldwork scouting the skies of Antarctica for cloud forming particles. The clouds over Antarctica aren't well represented in climate models, and Floor is on a mission to change that!Floor fell in love with the polar regions after working in the Arctic during her PhD, and has never looked back. She chats about the Southern Ocean Clouds project, her quality time spent in BAS Twin Otter aircraft 'Ice Cold Katy', and getting to see ice crystals form inside clouds from the sky.---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.

Are you a professional in penguin bum lifting? Derren Fox’s love for penguins began long before he made the trek to the icy sub-Antarctic island of Signy, where he works as a Zoological Assistant. In this episode, Derren chats to Nadia from Signy Research Station, where he spends his days getting up close and personal with Adélie penguins. He’s joined by Peter Fretwell, a satellite-wielding penguin expert who studies emperor penguins across the vast, frozen continent.Together, they share some of the more interesting ways they weigh and monitor the health of these iconic, charming, and stubborn birds - and spoiler: it involves a lot of careful penguin wrangling. They also discuss the serious threats facing emperor penguins from climate change. From dodging the occasional disgruntled penguin, to the iconic place these flightless birds have in Antarctica’s ecosystem, this episode is a fun, eye-opening look at the challenges and joys of studying penguins in the wild.---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.

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.--*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