Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey, which has a research station at the Halley VI ice base in the Antarctic had to flee the lab as a crack in the floating ice shelf, dubbed the Halloween Crack, extended over the last year.
The Halley VI ice base has already been relocated once because of a fracture in the Brunt Ice Shelf.
Now, experts have been forced to leave for the Antarctic winter – which runs from March to November – due to the Halloween crack.
Authorities say nobody has been hurt, but the evacuation took place because of the unpredictable nature of the region.
Dame Jane Francis, Director of BAS, said: “What we are witnessing is the power and unpredictability of Nature.
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“The safety of our staff is our priority in these circumstances. Our Antarctic summer research operation will continue as planned, and we are confident of mounting a fast uplift of personnel should fracturing of the ice shelf occur.
“However, because access to the station by ship or aircraft is extremely difficult during the winter months of 24-hour darkness, extremely low temperatures and the frozen sea, we will once again take the precaution of shutting down the station before the 2018 Antarctic winter begins.”
The 14 members who were stationed at Halley VI ice base will now be relocated to other BAS stations in the Antarctic or the Survey’s Cambridge headquarters.
The Halley VI base is crucial to the BAS’ research as it offers valuable insights into the likes of extreme space weather events, climate change, and atmospheric phenomena.
It is the place where a hole in the ozone layer above the Antarctic was discovered in 1985.