Halley Antarctic station runs on auto

The UK has managed to get one of its major Antarctic bases operating in an automatic mode for the first time. Halley Station, on the Brunt Ice Shelf, is remotely running experiments that include the monitoring of the ozone layer and of "space weather". The station would normally be crewed year-round, even through the permanent darkness of winter. But staff have had to be withdrawn because of uncertainty over the stability of nearby ice. Prof David Vaughan, director of science at the British Antarctic Survey, says the instruments are being powered by electricity from a micro-turbine.