June 3+4, 2017

Last Saturday for the current EGRIP team before a major crew exchange on Friday

EGRIP group picture Saturday evening.

Once again, it became a good Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Saturday night dinner was prepared by Alexey and Eliza: Borsth (Russian beet soup) and roulade and knödel: Ilka, Matthias and Lydia. Apfelstrudel: Sepp. It was a fine evening with relaxation, chatting and dancing. Sunday morning there was brunch at 11 prepared by Dennis and Nicolai. Everything is running smoothly and we feel confident that we can hand over camp to the next crew in good order. We groomed the skiway, as this is a first sign of an upcoming flight period. The party last night must have been good, as Sunday evening here in the main dome is very, very quiet.

What we did today:

1. Processing Saturday 8.25 m or bags 227-241. Sunday 9.90 m or bags 242-259.
2. Groomed taxiway and apron. Zig-zag groomed skiway.
3. Drilling in two shifts. Saturday 16.91 m drilled, and Sunday 2.12 m drilled until 19.00.
4. Two shift logging of ice cores. Logging depth Saturday: 280.33 m. Logging depth Saturday: 282.45 m.
5. All frozen food now on shelves in new storage.
6. Work on electricals in drill trench.
7. Working on load plans for next flight.
8. German snow sampling.
9. Japanese aerosol sampling and snow experiments.
10. Water vapour sampling, methane sampling, boundary layer and meteorology station working.

Ad. 3: Drillers report: The new EastGRIP drill electronics have been tested in May 2017, during both reaming and drilling phases and have not lived up to the requirements for stable operation. Specifically, the voltage output of the 48V DC/DC converter proved to be unreliable in cold conditions, which made it impossible to drill reliably. Moreover, we had problems with communications over the power line in the beginning, but they were addressed. Work continues both in camp and back in Copenhagen to address these issues, including bench tests in cold environments. Meanwhile, a stable drilling mode has been achieved using the HT pressure tubes, with 2 m core barrels. Two shift operation will continue through Monday, after which we will return to a one shift operation, in order to conserve the drill liquid remaining in camp. We will also try new configurations of the standard drill set up, including new 3 mm pitch step cutters, the addition of dead weights on the drill to increase travel speed down hole in the liquid column, the new 3D printed three bladed hollow shaft booster, and begin preparing for the big crew change and surface drilling support required in the next flight period.

Weather Saturday: Sunshine. Temp. -11°C to -21°C. Wind: 10 kt from WSW. Visibility: To horizon.
Weather Sunday: Sunshine. Temp. -13°C to -23°C. Wind: 6-12 kt from WSW. Visibility: To horizon.

FL, J.P. Steffensen

At the exit of the underground caves. A rare sign for work safety: A warning against a “bright” future.