May 18, 2016

Tunnel break through on a beautiful day

Break through: A view from inside a tunnel as the excavation of the drill trench breaks through.


Today the weather was excellent, sunshine and very little wind. It was a good day to work outside. The traverse made a timely return yesterday, as several items on the sleds come into good use now. The carpenter, Christian, is happy as he now got some timber to work with, and Joel, Malte, Hans Christian and J.P. retrieved the heavy lift from the drillers sled. Sarah coordinated the removal of food from below the dome, and Kaitlin together with J.P. marked out the coming drill trench. Chris did the snow blowing, while Sepp filmed the process and took snow samples. Christoph worked on his experiments.

What we have done today:

  1. Unpacking half of the drillers sled.
  2. Pulled the timber sled to the carpenters garage.
  3. Installed the heavy lift in the elevator shaft and placed a pop-up tent over it.
  4. Marked out drill trench and ramp.
  5. Excavated drill trench and ramp to 3 m.
  6. Three “zero level” markers already set up for future reference.
  7. Removed food storage in the basement under the dome.
  8. German snow sampling and experiments.

Ad. 5: During excavation, the Pistenbully snow blower broke through to the two tunnels already made. This was intentional, as the tunnels are meant to connect the drill trench and the science trench.
Ad. 6: In previous reports I forgot to mention, that before all excavations began, we placed three current snow level markers in the vicinity of the drill site so that a depth datum for the future ice core can be achieved.

Weather today: Clear all day. Temp. -21°C to -32°C, Wind 5 kt from SW. Visibility: To horizon.

FL, J.P. Steffensen