‘Every hour or so during a blizzard I have to go out, mount a ladder to the roof of the hut, remove the vane head, clean out the snow, and replace it. With gusts reaching 70 miles an hour and the air full of drift, this is no pleasant matter.’
George Simpson, a scientist on Captain Scott’s last expedition, showed that studying the polar climate would help scientists to understand the weather in other parts of the world.
Simpson launched balloons in Antarctica to measure the air temperature. He also established one of Antarctica’s first weather stations and took temperature and wind readings, even in extreme weather.
His research showed that unusually bad weather was one of the reasons for the death of Scott and his companions on the way back from the South Pole.