Iceworld

Iceworld

Welcome to Antarctica. What's it like living and working in one of the most extreme environments in the world? From polar scientists to plumbers, ICEWORLD is a series of interviews with ordinary people who are doing extraordinary jobs in Antarctica. The team talk climate science, extreme living, expeditions and becoming a community. A podcast from British Antarctic Survey, hosted and recorded by marine biologist Nadia Frontier. Produced in partnership with Boffin Media.

Episodes

S5 Ep7: What to wear in Antarctica

November 24, 2025 • 35 mins
Emma Pearce is a geophysicist… or a glaciologist - depending on who you speak to. What remains constant, however, is her dedication to understanding ice in Antarctica - and you can't do that without the right clothing! 

So, what do you wear to work when your office is on an Antarctic ice shelf? Emma discovered the answer involves far more than a trip to Primark. From base layers to extreme cold weather boots, preparin...
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S5 Ep6: Packing for Antarctica - packing tips from an experienced Antarctican, with Tom Davis-Merry and Ed Luke

October 27, 2025 • 29 mins
A bath mat, dark chocolate, photos and less books than you think. 

Tom Davis-Merry is about to head to Rothera Research Station in Antarctica to be a wintering Field Guide. We take a peek inside his suitcase as he prepares for the adventure ahead.

Ed Luke was a previous wintering Field Guide at Rothera. He joins Tom and Nadia to share his tips for how to pack for life on the ice. He talks practical items, but...
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S5 Ep5: Training for Antarctica - secrets of the pre-deployment programme, with Michaela Boak

September 22, 2025 • 27 mins
So, you're going to Antarctica. But what skills and training do you need to live and work there? That's the question that faces every person who is offered a job with British Antarctic Survey to work South - and there's a long to-do list, including two weeks of Pre-Deployment Training (PDT) at BAS HQ in Cambridge. During PDT, future-Antarcticans learn everything from polar hygiene to chemical safety and firefighting, as well a...
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S5 Ep4: Land of the rising sun - life at a Svalbard research station, with Iain Rudkin and Henry Burgess

August 25, 2025 • 30 mins
Journey to the top of the world as Iceworld ventures into the Arctic for the first time, exploring the UK's only Arctic research station at Ny-Ålesund in Svalbard. Located at 78° north, this unique international research village brings together ten countries in one of the world's most rapidly changing environments. From retreating glaciers to beluga whales passing by the station dock, Ny-Ålesund offers a front-row seat to clim...
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S5 Ep3: Keeping Halley Research Station online, with Dominic Jaques

July 28, 2025 • 23 mins
Dominic Jaques' job is like being a remote-control engineer for one of the most isolated places on Earth! As a computer engineer at Halley VI Research Station on Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf, Dom has to be ready to look after the systems and science at Halley when it's staffed in summer, and when the station is empty and automated in Antarctic Winter.
Dom talks to host Nadia Frontier about his six-year Antarctic career, fr...
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S5 Ep2: Midwinter nights and southern lights: Antarctic celebrations with Eloise Saville, David Reid, and Charlotte Rayner

June 23, 2025 • 27 mins
As the darkest day approaches in Antarctica, Winterers at three of the UK's research stations are preparing for Midwinter's Day celebrations. From the crafting of elaborate gifts, to now-traditional screenings of The Thing, they compare traditions and plans the teams have in the works.
Joining this cross-Antarctic conference call are Carpenter Eloise Saville at Rothera Research Station, Electrical Technician David Reid at ...
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S5 Ep1: Rothera at 50 - with Rod Arnold, Alysa Fisher, Matt Hughes and Aurelia Reichardt

June 8, 2025 • 42 mins
As the UK's largest Antarctic base, Rothera Research Station, celebrates its 50th birthday, host Nadia Frontier assembles a portrait of Rothera past and present. This episode features four fascinating perspectives on heritage, community and the importance of change.
Alysa Fisher offers an archivist's account of the station's early years - from the wartime beginnings of the UK's Antarctic presence, to the highly popular dog...
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S4 Ep12: Travelling in the Tractor Train Traverse, with Nick Withey and Rory Fleet

April 21, 2025 • 21 mins
Meet the ice road truckers of Antarctica: the Tractor Train Traverse team, who drive supplies and fuel huge distances across the frozen wilderness to help scientists work in the deep field. With no garage in sight - and, in fact, nothing much else - this hardy and skilled team have to maintain the vehicles as they travel, living and working together to traverse the Antarctic interior.
Nadia talks to Nick Withey, Traverse V...
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S4 Ep11: Doctors of Antarctica, with Dr Nisha Mistry and Dr Rebecca Boys

April 7, 2025 • 36 mins
For medics dreaming of an adventure, there's nothing quite like being deployed for a season to Antarctica. The role of doctor on an Antarctic research station or research ship is a huge responsibility - in an emergency, external help could be days or weeks away.
In this episode, Nadia speaks to Dr Nisha Mistry, who is currently working as the doctor on the polar ship RRS Sir David Attenborough, and Dr Rebecca Boys, was one...
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S4 Ep10: Moss, mites, bacteria and algae: looking for the smallest life in Antarctica

March 24, 2025 • 42 mins
From algae and moss, to mites and bacteria, Antarctica is teaming with life - a lot of it is just really small. Nadia chats to four Dutch researchers from the Gerritz Laboratory at Rothera Research Station, each looking for answers about Antarctica's smallest terrestrial and marine life.
Mareike Bach talks about her fascinating search for sea ice algae, drilling into pancake ice from a cradle suspended from a ship. Dr Swan...
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S4: Women at the poles - with Jane Francis, Jo Johnson, Katy Rumm, Vicky Auld, Laura Taylor, and Kat Turner

March 8, 2025 • 31 mins
In this special International Women’s Day episode, host Nadia Frontier takes a look back at some of her most memorable conversations with women at the British Antarctic Survey. This episode celebrates the incredible women pushing boundaries, breaking stereotypes, and shaping the future of science in one of the world’s most extreme environments. 
Professor Dame Jane Francis reflects on her remarkable journey from early fiel...
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S4 Ep9: A carnival of polar animals, with Katie Wells

March 3, 2025 • 25 mins
Katie Wells' job is like walking into a nature documentary! As a marine biologist at King Edward Point Research Station on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, Katie's job is to monitor the abundant carnival of animals that call this island and the surrounding ocean home.
Katie talks to Nadia about her experiences of the changing seasons and sights during the first year of her two-year deployment to South Georgia. Fr...
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S4 Ep8: Drilling into the ice rift - with the RiPIce expedition to the Larsen C Ice Shelf

February 17, 2025 • 25 mins
Every iceberg starts life attached to an ice shelf - until a crack travels deep through the ice and it breaks away. Predicting the way ice shelves will crack is still a major uncertainty in climate models. Cue an epic fieldwork project to the Larsen C Ice Shelf - featuring 'suture ice', hot water drilling, and some clever use of fibre optic cables.
What's it like to camp out in the middle of the icy wilderness? How do you ...
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S4 Ep7: Carbon cycling, biogeochemistry, and cruising on RRS Sir David Attenborough - with Emily Rowlands, Laura Taylor & Kat Turner

February 5, 2025 • 31 mins
Ever wondered what it’s like to do science on a ship travelling through Antarctica's Southern Ocean? In this episode, host Nadia Frontier is joined by early-career scientists Emily Rowlands, Laura Taylor, and Kat Turner, who are gearing up for the next BIOPOLE scientific mission on the RRS Sir David Attenborough. From getting used to life on board, to being put in charge of managing important ocean sampling, they chat about th...
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S4 Ep6: Uncovering the secrets of clouds, with Floortje Van Den Heuvel

January 21, 2025 • 28 mins
Where better to study clouds than from a plane? Host Nadia Frontier speaks to British Antarctic Survey cloud physicist Floortje Van Den Heuvel about her fieldwork scouting the skies of Antarctica for cloud forming particles. The clouds over Antarctica aren't well represented in climate models, and Floor is on a mission to change that!
Floor fell in love with the polar regions after working in the Arctic during her PhD, and...
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S4: Life after Antarctica: post-deployment with Dr Bav Sasi, Jerry Gillham and Kirsten Shaw

January 6, 2025 • 27 mins
Adapting to life after Antarctica can be a strange (and sometimes difficult) transition. Whether it's adjusting back to the daily hustle of home life after being in a remote community, or coming down from the emotional highs and lows of life in the wildest environment on Earth, returning to normal can be a challenge.
In this episode, host Nadia Frontier speaks with Dr Bav Sasi, a former medic at Rothera Research Station, a...
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S4 Ep5: Penguin passion at the poles with Derren Fox and Peter Fretwell

December 23, 2024 • 28 mins
Are you a professional in penguin bum lifting? Derren Fox’s love for penguins began long before he made the trek to the icy sub-Antarctic island of Signy, where he works as a Zoological Assistant. In this episode, Derren chats to Nadia from Signy Research Station, where he spends his days getting up close and personal with Adélie penguins. He’s joined by Peter Fretwell, a satellite-wielding penguin expert who studies emperor p...
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S4 Ep4: Scouting for shags and skuas with Paul Whitelaw and Aurelia Reichardt

December 9, 2024 • 19 mins
Paul Whitelaw started dreaming of a job in Antarctica when a BAS marine biologist visited as a lecturer during his degree. Only a few years later, Nadia speaks to Paul while he is monitoring seabirds at Rothera Research Station in Antarctica as part of his PhD.
From dodging dive-bombing skuas to tracking hatching egg numbers, Paul's work includes monitoring the health of the substantial seabird populations in Antarctica. W...
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S4 Ep3: The operation to survey sea ice - from satellites, skies and seas

November 25, 2024 • 20 mins
Flying low over ice in a timed dance with satellites. Digging 52m of ice cores out on the frozen sea. This is a team tackling Antarctica's sea ice question from every angle!
In this group interview, teams from the DEFIANT* and CRYOVEX* projects talk about their epic campaign to 'ground-truth' the data collected from two important satellites that monitor Antarctic sea ice - ESA's CryoSat-2 and NASA's ICESat-2. This calibrat...
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S4 Ep2: Evolving in the cold with Melody Clark and Simon Morley

November 8, 2024 • 21 mins
Who's watching out for the creatures at the bottom of the Southern Ocean? Geneticist Professor Melody Clark and ecophysiologist Dr Simon Morley talk about their decades of work understanding the animals who have evolved to survive in the world's coldest waters.
From antifreeze fish to nail-varnish-wearing limpets, and from the gut microbiome of sea cucumbers to anti-microbial resistance, Melody takes us on a whistle stop t...
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