Melting ice, hidden dangers? The suspected explosives buried next to the world’s biggest Adélie penguin rookery

Southern Cross expedition scientific staff, as shown at the ‘Breaking the Ice’ online exhibition by the Antarctic Heritage Trust. Photo: Creative commons

By Tiara Walters

22 Sep 2024

Historic remnants of Antarctic expeditions could pose urgent threats as warming temperatures accelerate new risks to both wildlife and human safety.

As Antarctica’s icy grip melts away under climate change, a forgotten legacy of early polar explorers may threaten not only history but also the world’s largest Adélie penguin rookery — with a possible cache of toxic explosives that could pose an accidental risk.

These findings, discussed at the Antarctic Treaty consultative meeting in India, held from May 20 to 30, were disclosed in a preliminary report released on September 12 by the treaty secretariat.

“Cape Adare is an Adélie rookery of approximately 400,000 to 500,000 nesting pairs with additional juvenile birds and other species present (totalling approximately one million birds),” Ceisha Poirot, Antarctica New Zealand’s policy, environment and safety manager, told Daily Maverick.

Located on the Borchgrevink Coast of the Ross Sea, the Adare Peninsula is home to remnants left by the 1911 Northern Party of Sir Robert Falcon Scott, the famed British explorer who died in 1912 after reaching the South Pole. It is also known for Borchgrevink’s Southern Cross Antarctic expedition, led from 1898 to 1900.

The explorers’ huts surrounded by Adélie penguins at Cape Adare, 1912, as shown at the ‘Breaking the Ice’ online exhibition by the Antarctic Heritage Trust. (Photo: Creative Commons)

The Cape Adare site also preserves the only remaining example of humanity’s first dwelling on any continent. Borchgrevink, from Norway, and his mostly Norwegian crew, were Antarctica’s first overwinterers and built two huts later also used by Scott’s men.

The historical significance of the area is shadowed by potential danger, however, as it is believed that explosives from these early expeditions may still be buried nearby.

New Zealand officials, in an additional information report posted to the secretariat’s document archives after the India meeting, said they had planned an on-site risk assessment during the 2023/24 summer season. Due to logistical delays, the work was postponed to the upcoming season — leaving the situation unresolved for another year.

‘Highly explosive, toxic’ hazards ‘extremely’ sensitive to ‘thawing’

Daily Maverick can also reveal that at least 18 potential risks associated with old, unexploded ordnance, including ammunition, flares and dynamite, have been identified by an assessment.

“Some types of ammunition can be confidently identified visually both from photographs and from working on site,” the report warned. The initial assessment, led by New Zealand’s Antarctic Heritage Trust as part of its Ross Sea restoration project, identified other ammunition types from reviewing the historic reports.

“The greatest concern is the fact that explosives were reportedly buried near the hut in 1900 and this location has not been identified,” the report states.

Hauling stores up the beach at Cape Adare, February 1899, as shown at the ‘Breaking the Ice’ online exhibition by the Antarctic Heritage Trust. (Photo: Creative Commons)

“Due to the age of these materials, there is a high risk of accidental detonation, especially during excavation or exposure to rapid temperature changes,” it notes.

“Due to the age/era of explosives, they are likely to contain nitroglycerin,” it continues. “There is potential presence of nitroglycerin in both gunpowder and dynamite at Cape Adare. Nitroglycerin’s properties are highly explosive and toxic, sensitive to shock, friction and static. Thawing out nitroglycerin can be extremely sensitising, especially if impurities are present or the warming is too rapid and this increases instability of dynamite.”

Climate observers have described “extremely warm daily temperatures” during the 2024 Antarctic midwinter – more than 4°C above average for large parts of the continent.

To protect human life, the report adds, “no New Zealand Antarctic programme personnel will be approved to carry out excavation work at Cape Adare, especially around the huts, until the risk is neutralised”.

Terra Incognita: ‘Not a lot was known about Antarctica’

New Zealand has enlisted the expertise of the national defence force’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit “to confirm or rule out the presence and location of ammunition and explosives”.

The unit has “the required expertise to detect and adequately dispose of any ammunition, explosives and/or flares materials”, according to the information paper. “Any disposal work will require deliberate and detailed planning to be conducted to ensure that all environmental and safety objectives are met.”

Asked why the historical ordnance was brought to Antarctica, Poirot told Daily Maverick that “not a lot was known about Antarctica” at the time.

“In preparing for the expeditions, perhaps there was consideration of using ordnance to help establish a site or clear access (for example, blasting to move large amounts of ice, rock or dirt),” said Poirot, also the newly elected chair of the treaty’s Committee for Environmental Protection, an advisory body. “Ammunitions might have been a security item – to protect people from potential predators or other unknown threats.”

An Adélie penguin in front of a stationary tracked vehicle in Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica, 2009. (Photo: Tiara Walters)

‘Minimising’ nest disturbance

Poirot said that Antarctica New Zealand first learnt about the situation from the heritage trust in July 2023: “The assessment is based on reports of ordnance taken to Cape Adare by Borchgrevink’s expedition in 1899, and Scott’s Northern Party in 1911 which were reportedly cached within 1.5m of Borchgrevink’s stores hut.”

Poirot observed that “birds have been freely moving around the area throughout that time without any ordnance incident”.

“Approximately 20 to 40 nests are in the vicinity of the stores hut, and will be managed based on strict environmental and wildlife protocols set by our competent authority,” Poirot noted. The planned assessment would use “non-invasive” techniques aimed at “minimising” nest disturbance.

According to Poirot, “heritage and conservation works have been undertaken at the huts since the 1960s with some documented evidence of historical ordnance in the 1970s.

“What is not documented is if those previous heritage works rectified the old ordnance,” Poirot said. If it is still lurking there, it is now “up to 125 years old”.

Southern Cross expedition scientific staff, as shown at the ‘Breaking the Ice’ online exhibition by the Antarctic Heritage Trust. (Photo: Creative Commons)

‘Legacy’ issue in a far-flung place

Cape Adare is remote — 730km from New Zealand’s only research station, Scott Base.

“Extreme winds and weather regularly impact the Northern Victoria Land coastline; seasonal sea ice challenges and scheduling of multinational logistics all play a role in success,” Poirot said. “In 2023, the aircraft used to provide support for this project was three weeks late arriving from Canada (via the Americas and transiting through refuel stations in Antarctica).”

The delay was exacerbated by the season’s “early closure” of the sea-ice runway at the Ross Sea’s Terra Nova Bay, “which was critical to supporting the safe put-in and pull-out of personnel and cargo. The decision was made to postpone the event to future seasons due to constraints in logistics, scheduling and with a focus on ensuring safe operations.”

Poirot said New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had informed the relevant tourism authorities of other countries, and urged others planning to visit Cape Adare to “conduct their own risk assessment”.

“This is a legacy issue that needs to be addressed,” Poirot urged.

Cake Adare

The Antarctic Heritage Trust’s executive director, Francesca Eathorne, told Daily Maverick that “it really is an interesting story”.

“It’s great to have multiple agencies collaborating to understand this potential issue,” said Eathorne.

The heritage trust has spent decades curating the early explorers’ Ross Sea huts and more than 20,000 artefacts, including a neatly wrapped, 100-year-old fruitcake.

Yet, the Borchgrevink expedition was a thankless task without much indulgence, according to the trust’s online exhibition.

The zoologist Nicolai Hanson, an expedition member, was the first person to die and be buried in Antarctica.

Financed by the British magazine publisher Sir George Newnes, “the expedition was plagued with difficulties and controversy”, the exhibition notes. “As well as Hanson’s death, one of the huts caught fire and there were ongoing tensions between the explorers. On their return, their achievements in science and exploration were mostly ignored by the British establishment.” DM

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