South Africa will not remove scientists from remote Antarctica after investigating allegations that one of them physically assaulted and sexually harassed another researcher at the front post base, the country's Environmental Bureau said Tuesday.
South Africa's Environment Minister Dion George said in a statement in the New York Times that “no incident was required to bring any of the nine wintering team members back to Cape Town.” He added, “Everything on the base is calm and under control.”
The charges against researchers at the base called Sanae IV were first reported to the government last month, Dr. George said. Since then, South African authorities have been investigating the claims, he said. However, as access to isolated scientists was limited from around 2,700 miles away, investigators faced unique challenges.
Antarctica is one of the most inhabitable places on the planet, with limited infrastructure and extreme climate. Researchers there could be essentially blocked from other parts of the world for months. Unpredictable weather, icy surfaces, and dark months make it nearly impossible to enter and exit freely.
These harsh conditions make it difficult for the country to routinely examine researchers' behavior. For a continent that does not have permanent residents, Antarctica is subject to a significant amount of crime and misconduct.
Jane K. Willembleling, now a professor at Stanford University, said that a well-known geologist harassed her while a graduate student during an expedition in 1999 and 2000.
In 2018, researchers at a Russian station stabbed a colleague in what the Associated Press described as “an obvious emotional breakdown.”
And the South African team ran into trouble at a former remote front post base. In 2017, researchers at a base between the mainland and the Antarctic took an x on another laptop, “for the triangle of love,” according to a summary of the Congressional meeting.
Last month's allegations of assault and harassment were first reported by the Sunday Times, a South African newspaper. This quoted what he described as an email sent to the government that expressed fear about his actions and threatening language and described the assault.
The New York Times were unable to independently verify the content of the email. Dr. George did not respond to any specific requests to confirm them.
The alleged assault was reported that the team left South Africa on February 1 and was less than a month on its mission.
Dr. George said the scientists accused of the attacks he did not identify “have written a formal apology to the victim,” “remorse,” and were willing to receive a psychological evaluation.
However, the episode highlighted a worrying pattern of fraud at research stations in Antarctica, some scientists said. Harassment during fieldwork in Antarctica is “a known issue that is currently being taken very seriously,” Matthew Maurigem, a professor of geoscience at Dartmouth, said in an email to the Times.
“If a team of people is completely isolated and unfolds in a very harsh environment for weeks (or months), it's difficult for victims to report fraud because they can't escape from the team,” Professor Maurigem said.
Researchers traveling to Antarctica often take part in a rigorous deployment vetting process, like astronauts preparing to go to space.
South Africa, for example, focuses on the “technical skills, psychological aspects, medical history, and interpersonal history” of potential basic members, Dr. George said. If researchers had “negative results” during these assessments, they would not be appointed to the team, he said.
“At the time, the ship left for Antarctica,” he said on February 1st, “It was all right.”
There are scientific considerations in conversations about removing scientists from the base.
The team emails Dawn Sumner, Dawn Sumner, who emails Davis, a professor of planetary science at the University of California. Dr. Sumner said it is likely that only one person will not be able to be taken away from the base.
If the base was left unmanned, “when people can come back in the spring or summer, it wouldn't be functional,” Dr. Sumner said. “That would be a major infrastructure loss for the South African Antarctic Program.”
However, the most severe and brutal Antarctic winters in July and August are still coming.
“They have these extremes and it's not dark yet,” Dr. Sumner said. “That's a horrible situation.”
