Antarctic Scientists: Why They Are There, and What They Find

A media storm exploded in mid-March 2025 when researchers at an isolated Sanae IV base in South Africa accused one of nine team members of being violent.

Conversation Africa asked David William Heading, a geomorphologist who has previously done research from the frozen continent, about the work that researchers do in Antarctica, what situations and what it is important.

What do researchers focus on when working in Antarctica?

Currently, the main focus of Antarctic research revolves around climate change. This is because the white continent is a barometer suitable for changing global cycles. There is a unique and vulnerable environment. It is an extreme climate and is extremely sensitive to changes in the global climate and atmospheric conditions. Importantly, Antarctica is relatively exposed to humans, allowing us to study the processes and responses of natural systems.

The geographical location of Antarctica also allows for science that is less suitable elsewhere on Earth. This example is work on the weather in space (disturbance to the Earth’s magnetic field caused primarily by solar activity). It is important to study the weather in space, as the Earth’s magnetic fields can affect communication platforms, technology, infrastructure, and even human health.

How many countries do the team work there? Where does South Africa fit?

Currently, there are research institutes in Antarctica in around 30 countries, but these bases serve a much wider community of researchers. Collaboration is a key component of Antarctic research, as many research sites are isolated, logistics is a challenge, and resources are usually limited.

South African bases in Antarctica, named Sanae IV, usually have 10-12 researchers and basic personnel. This research station is located above Nunatak (a mountain that penetrates through the ice) in West Drone Mode land. It is a very far inland, about 220km from the ice shelf.

Researchers and base officials stay in Antarctica for about 15 months throughout the cold and dark winter months.

What was your biggest “discovery”?

The biggest study from Antarctica was the discovery of an ozone hole by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey in 1985. The discovery led to the creation and implementation of the Montreal Protocol, a treaty that phases out ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (a synthetic compound made up of chlorine, fluorine and carbon). This was a major breakthrough in the slow healing of the ozone layer.

The second most important study from Antarctica is the use of ice cores to reconstruct past climates. The ICE core holds air bubbles that provide rich information about atmospheric conditions over time. Importantly, the ice core offers an uninterrupted detailed window over the past 1.2 million years. This is important. Because we can only predict future reactions by understanding the past climate and the Earth’s response to these changes. This is important due to the imminent threat caused by human-induced (human-induced) climate change.

Under what conditions do scientists work?

Doing research in Antarctica is extremely difficult for three main reasons: remote, cold and sunlight.

The remoteness of many research sites makes it difficult to reach. The distance is enormous from a limited number of bases in Antarctica. Therefore, Antarctic science logistics is a major challenge and requires collaboration and planning. For example, geologists at the University of Johannesburg who work at Sanae IV Base in Antarctica often spend several weeks in the field of collecting samples. They travel quite a bit of distances via snowmobiles and remain self-sufficient while carrying out science in tough situations.

These harsh conditions are particularly associated with cold weather. Most science only occurs in Australia’s summer months, when temperatures are only slightly tolerated. The summer season also provides short windows to operate as sea ice access to the Antarctic is limited by the sea ice range and thickness.

Finally, there is 24 hours of sunlight in the summer, which means longer business days, but these conditions are also short-lived.

Why is it important to do scientific work in this area?

Antarctica is intricately linked to global systems and plays a major role in affecting these systems.

Climate change, for example, causes significant melting of land ice in Antarctica, and adding it to the ocean causes sea level rise and disruption to global ocean currents. Therefore, it is important to better understand how the responses of terrestrial systems, such as Antarctica, affect marine systems, as ultimately changes in ocean currents affect marine food networks.

In the context of climate change, sea level rise is a major concern due to the global impact on society, so it is important to investigate the impacts to enable society to build resilience and adapt.

This article will be republished from the conversation under a Creative Commons license. Please read the original article.