Iceworld

If you’re thinking of applying for a job in Antarctica, the medical assessment process might feel daunting – especially if you have an existing condition. But as Dr Matt Warner, Director of the British Antarctic Survey Medical Unit, explains in this episode – its to help you get south, not to stop you.

Nadia Frontier sits down with Matt to find out exactly what the assessment involves, how conditions ranging from physical to mental health are evaluated, and what happens when things go wrong in one of the most remote places on Earth. Along the way, they cover everyt...

What does it take to be a carpenter in Antarctica – when the nearest hardware store is thousands of miles away, and the weather can turn a sheet of plywood into a sail?

In this episode of Iceworld, Nadia speaks to Phill and Henry, two carpenters keeping British Antarctic Survey stations in tip-top shape in some of the most extreme conditions on Earth. They discuss the unique challenges of their jobs – from rebuilding a jetty knee-deep in icy water, to dealing with unexpected building requests from scientists.

With deliveries of supplies coming only once every two year...

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...

When you hear the word 'desert,' you might picture the sun beating down on an endless expanse of sand. But, in reality, the largest desert on Earth isn't hot and sandy at all… it's Antarctica. 

Now imagine being dropped into that desert of snow and calling it home for two and a half months.

In this episode of Iceworld, Nadia is joined by Zelna Weich and Charlotte Phillips, two early-career researchers who have just returned from the Antarctic deep field. They discuss what life is like when -9°C counts as a ‘balmy’ day, showers...

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...

What could be more festive than a white Christmas at the bottom of the world?  

In this special Christmas episode of ICEWORLD, Nadia is joined by two guests from Halley, Station Doctor Dani Hawarden and Station Leader Dan McKenzie. Together, they discuss what makes an Antarctic Christmas unique, from the elaborate homemade Secret Santa gifts, to the 7km Christmas morning run (that particular tradition can definitely stay in Antarctica!).  

For Dan, this marks his fifth Christmas in Antarctica, spent across three different research stations whereas for Dani, it’s her first Antarctic Christmas! Tune in to disc...

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 int...

A bath mat, dark chocolate, photos and less books than you think. 

Tom Davis-Merry is about to head to Rothera Research Station in Antarctica to be a wintering Field Guide. We take a peek inside his suitcase as he prepares for the adventure ahead.

Ed Luke was a previous wintering Field Guide at Rothera. He joins Tom and Nadia to share his tips for how to pack for life on the ice. He talks practical items, but also the the little luxuries and personal touches that make Antarctica feel like a home.

Produced in p...

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 Coo...

Journey to the top of the world as Iceworld ventures into the Arctic for the first time, exploring the UK's only Arctic research station at Ny-Ålesund in Svalbard. Located at 78° north, this unique international research village brings together ten countries in one of the world's most rapidly changing environments. From retreating glaciers to beluga whales passing by the station dock, Ny-Ålesund offers a front-row seat to climate change in action.
Host Nadia Frontier speaks with Iain Rudkin, Arctic Operations Manager currently stationed in Svalbard, and Henry Burgess, Head of NERC's Arctic Office, calling in from Cambridge. They dis...

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...

As the darkest day approaches in Antarctica, Winterers at three of the UK's research stations are preparing for Midwinter's Day celebrations. From the crafting of elaborate gifts, to now-traditional screenings of The Thing, they compare traditions and plans the teams have in the works.
Joining this cross-Antarctic conference call are Carpenter Eloise Saville at Rothera Research Station, Electrical Technician David Reid at King Edward Point, and Station Leader Charlotte Rayner at Bird Island. From local penguin and seal sightings, to Eloise's new and unexpected passion for the gym, this chat is a memorable insight into life across three different...

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...

Meet the ice road truckers of Antarctica: the Tractor Train Traverse team, who drive supplies and fuel huge distances across the frozen wilderness to help scientists work in the deep field. With no garage in sight - and, in fact, nothing much else - this hardy and skilled team have to maintain the vehicles as they travel, living and working together to traverse the Antarctic interior.
Nadia talks to Nick Withey, Traverse Vehicle Engineering Manager, and mechanic and first time traverser Rory Fleet - both recently back in the UK after a busy season in Antarctica. Nick and Rory...

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...

From algae and moss, to mites and bacteria, Antarctica is teaming with life - a lot of it is just really small. Nadia chats to four Dutch researchers from the Gerritz Laboratory at Rothera Research Station, each looking for answers about Antarctica's smallest terrestrial and marine life.
Mareike Bach talks about her fascinating search for sea ice algae, drilling into pancake ice from a cradle suspended from a ship. Dr Swan Sow maps microbial life in the Southern Ocean to understand how climate change impacts nutrient cycles. Dr Stef Bokhorst explores the relationship between Antarctic plants and invertebrates, and...

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 famil...

Katie Wells' job is like walking into a nature documentary! As a marine biologist at King Edward Point Research Station on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, Katie's job is to monitor the abundant carnival of animals that call this island and the surrounding ocean home.
Katie talks to Nadia about her experiences of the changing seasons and sights during the first year of her two-year deployment to South Georgia. From hikes across the island to monitor seabirds, to following the lives of fur seal pups outside her window, to counting hundreds of humpback whales at sea in a...

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...

Ever wondered what it’s like to do science on a ship travelling through Antarctica's Southern Ocean? In this episode, host Nadia Frontier is joined by early-career scientists Emily Rowlands, Laura Taylor, and Kat Turner, who are gearing up for the next BIOPOLE scientific mission on the RRS Sir David Attenborough. From getting used to life on board, to being put in charge of managing important ocean sampling, they chat about the excitement and challenges of working on polar science at sea.
Together, Emily, Laura and Kat explain the significance of the BIOPOLE project - and the connections between An...

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...

Adapting to life after Antarctica can be a strange (and sometimes difficult) transition. Whether it's adjusting back to the daily hustle of home life after being in a remote community, or coming down from the emotional highs and lows of life in the wildest environment on Earth, returning to normal can be a challenge.
In this episode, host Nadia Frontier speaks with Dr Bav Sasi, a former medic at Rothera Research Station, about his research into the psychological and emotional effects of returning from Antarctic deployments. Also joining the conversation are Station Leader Jerry Gillham, and Antarctic Postal Logistics...

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 stubb...

Paul Whitelaw started dreaming of a job in Antarctica when a BAS marine biologist visited as a lecturer during his degree. Only a few years later, Nadia speaks to Paul while he is monitoring seabirds at Rothera Research Station in Antarctica as part of his PhD.
From dodging dive-bombing skuas to tracking hatching egg numbers, Paul's work includes monitoring the health of the substantial seabird populations in Antarctica. With 10% of the world's population of skua in the same bay as Rothera, Paul is able to use the changing fate of the birds there as an indicator for the health...

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 F...

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...

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 t...

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 g...

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 c...

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...

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 b...

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 b...

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...

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.