Kiwi scientist leaves his mark

COOL NAME: Tim Haskell has had an Antarctic ice strait, mostly only occasionally open water, named after him.

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When Tim Haskell was asked to take an important phone call at Scott Base the last thing he expected to hear was that the strait on the horizon had been named after him.

It was the first he knew that the large expanse of ice between McMurdo Sound and White Island was finally being given a name – his name.

The New Zealand Geographic Board has called the area the Haskell Strait, after receiving a proposal from National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research oceanographers Craig Stevens and Natalie Robinson.

Dr Haskell, a senior scientist at Industrial Research in Lower Hutt, said finding out was more thrilling than receiving the Antarctic Medal, and a host of other prestigious science prizes and awards he has won during his career.

The name was officially gazetted last month, while Dr Haskell was waiting at Scott Base for Dr Stevens to join a research team there.

When he received a message to call Dr Stevens about something important, he feared for the future of the research projects he was involved in. "I thought they had cancelled the contract."

Dr Stevens said it was fitting that the strait had been named after Dr Haskell, as he had inspired so many teams of researchers at Antarctica.

He believed the strait had not been named until now because it was covered in ice and was only occasionally open water. "It still astounds me that it hasn't been named until now."

While oceanographers needed a working name for the area to refer to, they also felt that naming it after Dr Haskell promoted the importance of oceanography in Antarctica, Dr Stevens said.

The strait, which is about as wide as Cook Strait and up to 900 metres deep in places, is an area of relatively high human activity, with two airfields above it.

The currents that flow beneath it come from the world's biggest ice shelf, the Ross Ice Shelf.

Although there were approximately 36,000 named geographic features across the whole of Antarctica, Dr Stevens said this was one of the largest to be named in recent times.

Geographic Board secretary Wendy Shaw said most of the large geographic features within New Zealand's naming area, the Ross Sea region, had already been named and 3300 formal names had been assigned within the area.

The Geographic Board also considered naming the area Pony Camp Strait, as it was in this area that Captain Robert Scott's ponies were based. However, the board decided it was "not considered to be an appropriate geographic name".

The strait lies between Cape Spencer Smith and Cape Armitage, and Dr Haskell said he was delighted to have his name next to those of explorers who travelled with Shackleton and Scott respectively.

He first travelled to Antarctica in 1978, and until then had mainly been involved in researching energy efficiency. "Antarctica was just this thing on the side."

Now the leader of the sea ice programme, supported by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, Dr Haskell was also an associate investigator on the recently started Marsden Fund Antarctica programme, hosted by Niwa.

Antarctic Names:

Airdrop Peak: When Kiwi surveyors were making observations from the higher of the two peaks on this mountain in 1959, a US Navy squadron VX-6 flew overhead and dropped a spare radio to them. Name proposed by NZ Alpine Club expedition of 1959-60.

Alligator Eyes: Named for two nunataks, or exposed ridges, that are close together and rise over 600m in the Churchill Mountains. Gazetted in 2003.

Mt Achernar: Named after the star used to fix the baseline of a survey carried out in 1961-62. The peak is at the end of the McAlpine Hills, on the south side of Law Glacier

Pipecleaner Glacier: Named by the Victoria University Antarctic Expedition of 1960-61. The glacier's surface is marked by inumerable bands of moraine (glacial debris) reminisicent of pipecleaners.

Trudge Valley: Named after the 1964 Allan Hills Expedition, which made many journeys through the valley, on the southern side of Windwhistle Peak

Source: NZ Geographic Board

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