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British research station biologist drowns during diving mission
Paul Brown, environment correspondent Thursday July 24, 2003 The Guardian
A 28-year-old marine biologist has been killed by Antarctica's most dangerous predator, a leopard seal, while on a snorkelling mission at a British research base. Kirsty Brown, an experienced diver, was overwintering with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) at Rothera research station on the Antarctic Peninsula when she was dragged underwater by the seal and drowned during a routine mission to check on scientific equipment.
Normally diving is suspended if leopard seals are seen in the area. The seal was not seen before it attacked.
The two-person shore-cover team saw the incident on Monday, and a rescue boat was launched. Ms Brown's colleagues pulled her from the water and tried to resuscitate her in the boat. At the research station the base's doctor and colleagues tried for an hour to revive her. None of her colleagues was injured.
Ms Brown's body will remain in the station morgue until the Antarctic spring in October when the BAS relief plane can reach the base. Her parents, from Horsham, West Sussex, have asked for her body to be flown home for burial.
Professor Chris Rapley, director of BAS, said: "This is tragic and shocking. My heart goes out to Kirsty's family and her colleagues at Rothera. Kirsty was a vibrant, dynamic individual, committed to her science and with a promising scientific career ahead of her." He said there would be a full investigation.
The leopard seal grows to 7 metres (23ft) and weighs half a tonne. It is not afraid of humans and is known to try to drag people into the water. It normally feeds on Adelie penguins and other smaller seals, but also eats krill, a small, shrimp-like creature.
The BAS has been carrying out research involving snorkelling and diving for the last 30 years without a similar incident.
Ms Brown, one of 22 overwintering overwintering staff at the base, went to check underwater research work designed to measure the movement of ice on the sea bed.
Her research project involved looking at the impact of iceberg scouring on marine animal communities.
Ms Brown was a qualified and experienced scientific diver. She joined BAS in summer 2002 on a 30-month contract, after obtaining a degree in geology at Royal Holloway College, University of London, and an MSc in oceanography at Southampton University, before going to Adelaide University, South Australia.
She had worked as a diver on Imperial College's Greenland diving expedition and then as a field assistant in Greenland for the Cambridge Arctic Shelf Programme and as a research scientist in Canberra. She had gained dive leader qualifications and professional diver qualifications and had dived off Greenland, in temperate and tropical waters off Australia, and in UK waters.
The BAS Rothera research station is a centre for biology, geoscience and atmospheric science programmes.
Paul Brown, environment correspondent Thursday July 24, 2003 The Guardian
A 28-year-old marine biologist has been killed by Antarctica's most dangerous predator, a leopard seal, while on a snorkelling mission at a British research base. Kirsty Brown, an experienced diver, was overwintering with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) at Rothera research station on the Antarctic Peninsula when she was dragged underwater by the seal and drowned during a routine mission to check on scientific equipment.
Normally diving is suspended if leopard seals are seen in the area. The seal was not seen before it attacked.
The two-person shore-cover team saw the incident on Monday, and a rescue boat was launched. Ms Brown's colleagues pulled her from the water and tried to resuscitate her in the boat. At the research station the base's doctor and colleagues tried for an hour to revive her. None of her colleagues was injured.
Ms Brown's body will remain in the station morgue until the Antarctic spring in October when the BAS relief plane can reach the base. Her parents, from Horsham, West Sussex, have asked for her body to be flown home for burial.
Professor Chris Rapley, director of BAS, said: "This is tragic and shocking. My heart goes out to Kirsty's family and her colleagues at Rothera. Kirsty was a vibrant, dynamic individual, committed to her science and with a promising scientific career ahead of her." He said there would be a full investigation.
The leopard seal grows to 7 metres (23ft) and weighs half a tonne. It is not afraid of humans and is known to try to drag people into the water. It normally feeds on Adelie penguins and other smaller seals, but also eats krill, a small, shrimp-like creature.
The BAS has been carrying out research involving snorkelling and diving for the last 30 years without a similar incident.
Ms Brown, one of 22 overwintering overwintering staff at the base, went to check underwater research work designed to measure the movement of ice on the sea bed.
Her research project involved looking at the impact of iceberg scouring on marine animal communities.
Ms Brown was a qualified and experienced scientific diver. She joined BAS in summer 2002 on a 30-month contract, after obtaining a degree in geology at Royal Holloway College, University of London, and an MSc in oceanography at Southampton University, before going to Adelaide University, South Australia.
She had worked as a diver on Imperial College's Greenland diving expedition and then as a field assistant in Greenland for the Cambridge Arctic Shelf Programme and as a research scientist in Canberra. She had gained dive leader qualifications and professional diver qualifications and had dived off Greenland, in temperate and tropical waters off Australia, and in UK waters.
The BAS Rothera research station is a centre for biology, geoscience and atmospheric science programmes.
