Scott Base: She's creaky but done us proud

Friday, 5 March 2021

Scott Base, Antarctica, with a steaming Mt Erebus in the background. Antarctica NZ has asked for $250 million to rebuild the base almost entirely.

Parts of Scott Base are creaking at the seams and the whole thing needs to be rebuilt. But there are too many bases on Antarctica, especially those belonging to Northern Hemisphere nations, writes Colin Monteath.

OPINION: Rebuilding New Zealand’s Scott Base on Ross island to meet the demands of a modern science programme is a complex, long-term and expensive project as highlighted in Lee Kenny's excellent article “Leaky buildings, old electrics: Scott Base in a sorry state” (Feb 27).

By stating that three of the present buildings date back to 1957 and emphasising “leaky buildings, old electrics” gave the impression that the base is essentially an antique, possibly unsafe.

One of those old buildings referred to is now a museum displaying 1950s artefacts and is located on the foreshore in front of the main base, while another is simply an old aircraft hangar used for storage.

The current Scott Base was built over a 10-year period 1975-1985, so, yes, 35 years on, possibly as much as 45 by the time the new base will be fully operational, it is understandable that aspects of its construction and function in a difficult environment (for example, reverse-osmosis desalination water system) are creaking at the seams.

Scott Base in Antarctica. (Video first published March 2018)

* First step in Scott Base redevelopment completed in Antarctica

The middle section of Scott Base in the 1960s. Note the tunnels connecting the orange buildings.

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The proposed new Scott Base. The helicopter hanger on the right has been dropped due to cost. But it will likely be consented and could be built later.

* National Portrait: Antarctica NZ CEO Sarah Williamson

* Antarctica's Scott Base rebuild to cost $250 million

* Staying South

Snow got into a Scott Base hanger during a serious blizzard about 15 years ago. Antarctica is always dangerous.

* Have cracks started to appear in the Antarctic Treaty?

However, the largest building of all – the Hillary Field Centre – is a huge boon to science groups getting ready for their expeditions. It was built in the mid 2000s and upgraded in mid 2010s. So, Scott Base does need to be rebuilt to meet modern standards of design, technology and environmental footprint, but it is still a superb logistics hub and science facility by many standards around the Antarctic continent.

Staff and scientists listen to a science talk in the bar at Scott Base.

The present green buildings gradually replaced the original base, built in 1957 as a series of inter-linked plywood boxes to support the International Geophysical Year and the New Zealand component of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

This pre-fabricated orange-coloured base was designed to last only 18 months yet was still functioning in the late 70s. It was by then a maintenance nightmare and potential firetrap for those who worked there.

New Zealand’s vehicle fleet and field equipment were similarly run down. New Zealand had no vessel capable of operating in polar waters and was dependent on 10 or so RNZAF C-130 Icecube flights each summer season to help balance our long-standing logistic agreement with the United States Antarctic Research Programme, operating out of nearby McMurdo Station.

The poor funding DSIR Antarctic Division received at that time indicated that New Zealand gave a very low priority to its Antarctic presence. If it hadn’t been for the singular drive over the years of the Antarctic Division’s director, Bob Thomson, who persistently highlighted this dangerous situation at a government level in Wellington, we wouldn’t have had a base at all by the 1980s.

Too many Antarctic bases

I remain opposed to the proliferation of science bases in Antarctica, but this involves a complex political debate at a time when good science is paramount to help refine our thinking on climate change.

Specifically, in the Ross Dependency, the pie-shaped sector of Antarctic administered by New Zealand since 1923, I draw attention to the recently built South Korean and Chinese bases located close to the existing German and Italian bases in Terra Nova Bay midway along the Victoria Land Coast.

Italy is building a hard-surface runway behind Terra Nova Bay, while China plans to construct a “blue ice” runway for large aircraft near Inexpressible Island. The human footprint of these four Northern Hemisphere countries with an extended chain of support that is utterly dependent on hydrocarbons is simply too much in a modern Antarctic setting. Yet these bases have received massive funding from their respective national Antarctic programmes.

Under Antarctic Treaty guidelines, each nation’s science programme is essentially peer-reviewed prior to and after each austral summer season and this information is exchanged between other treaty partners.

Yet as new polar nations such as South Korea and China gain a foothold in the Ross Sea, this move could be viewed as a thinly disguised exercise in territorial positioning for resources, aggrandisement and influence. China, for one, openly states it wishes its bases, now totalling five on the continent, to support its fishing fleets around the Southern Ocean.

New Zealand must commit to rebuilding Scott Base on Ross Island and this has to be done at a national level. As a long-standing polar nation with excellent science credentials, we should not be seen to go cap-in-hand to private industry or benefactors for funding, as was mentioned as a possibility in Kenny’s article.

It should also be remembered that during the redevelopment timeline for Scott Base (2021-2027), the United States will also be rebuilding its much larger McMurdo Station.

This adds an enormous layer of complexity to the logistics plan for both countries to move pre-fabricated buildings by aircraft and cargo ships from Christchurch to McMurdo Sound. Efficient icebreaker support will be crucial.

As never before, this is a time in the history of Antarctic science for the increased sharing of base and support systems.

Colin Monteath is a Christchurch-based freelance polar and mountain photographer who worked for the New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme from 1973 to 1983. He has worked in Antarctica as a guide and photographer for a total of 32 summer seasons. www.colinmonteath.nz