One of the jobs of the team of meteorologists at Halley is to record the type, height and amount of clouds. This lenticular altocumulus cloud formed at the edge of the ice shelf next to the sea ice in August. Steve White, our GA, and Andy Cope, our electrician, spotted this strange cloud while we were on our field trip. We were at Windy to visit the Emperor Penguins.
We also get lots of spectacular optical phenomena. These occur when the light from the sun passes through tiny drops of ice or water. I took this photograph again at Windy but this time I was on my ten-day field trip in September. We had been marooned in our tents for five days due to wind. Then the wind dropped and some fog appeared. You can just make out the coloured arc to the left of the tent.
Halley is about 50 km from the base of the Antarctic Plateau - the continent. Somedays strong katabatic winds blow snow up into the air in great wisps visible from Halley.
Cat Gillies, our Structural Engineer, was on night watch when she spotted some katabatic phenomena and she took these photos at about six in the morning in September. The building on the left is the Simpson (Meteorology) Building and the building on the right is from where we launch the balloons. In between you can see wisps streaking up from the ground. This is snow being blown up into the air over 50 km away.