Rare orca sightings as sea ice breaks near Scott Base in Antarctica

NZ Herald

02-05-2025

'When I arrived, all I wanted to do was take photos, but I hadn't adapted to the temperature. It took no time at all before I was very uncomfortable and couldn't feel my fingertips.'
His role at Scott Base is in the communications team and monitoring field events on the ice is a far cry from his usual work on helicopters.
'Our primary role is to maintain contact with all the field events in various places in the Ross Island region.
'We will talk with them at least once a day to make sure everyone is safe. Then we pass on any requests that they may need, like food or equipment supplies – we pass that along here to other groups here at Scott Base who will make a plan to satisfy those requests.'
The team operates the communication equipment 24/7, but is also put to work performing stocktake audits, washing linen, printing notices and flight schedules, and making daily PA announcements with weather updates, new information, birthdays on base – and a joke or two.
During overnight shifts, they look after air conditioning units, hot water cylinders and generators to ensure Scott Base stays warm.
'We call them mouse rounds, because we're like little mice scurrying around checking things. There's also lots of outside buildings and containers we check in the evenings,' Sproull said.
'At the start of the season, when we were checking them, we were rugged up with jackets, face masks, goggles and boots because it was so cold and it would take a while to get kitted up. But in the height of summer, you'd be in a hoodie, shorts and Crocs.'
Sproull said his deployment had been amazing, with days packed full of activities.
'I've been lucky to fly out to the Dry Valleys, on mainland Antarctica, to help pack up a campsite that was the base for Italian and New Zealand scientists researching the area's geology. Not everyone gets a chance to go out there, so that was a privilege.'
There was another team looking at the sea ice and using robotic equipment to study methane seeps from the ocean floor – an indication of global warming and the effects on ecosystems, he said.
'There are people down here looking at the ozone layers and what effect global warming has on that. There's a huge amount of science going on here. It's very busy.'
In October, Sproull looked upon the last sunset before the summer season started 24 hours of daylight.
'It set about 2am, so there was a group of us who went out in the middle of the night and watched the last sunset of the season.
'There's also the marathon that takes place in January. I did the full 42km with no training and I hurt for two weeks after that. It was a huge struggle to walk around base and there are lots of level changes here – lots of stairs.'
Antarctica is always cold and it's imperative to pay close attention to weather forecasts, but Sproull said the height of summer can be manageable with blue skies and no wind.
'About two weeks ago summer ended and it started getting quite a bit colder again. You notice the sun is lower in the horizon at night, so it's not far away from the first sunset of the season. This deployment has been an amazing experience.