This winter, scientists completed a mission to save a remote research station in Antarctica. A giant crack was creeping across the Brunt Ice Shelf, a thick slab of floating ice. The 43 kilometer (27 mile)-long fissure threatened to cut off the Halley VI Research Station. Scientists were afraid a huge chunk of ice would calve, or break off, and float away with the lab and its researchers. Luckily, Halley VI’s eight modules stand on legs fitted with skis. Researchers shut down the station and towed the lab to a safer spot.

Elsewhere in Antarctica, a large crack has been spreading across the Larsen C Ice Shelf. Geophysicists studying the site expect a massive iceberg to break off soon.