May 17, 2019

A couple of successes and a setback

Johannes and Iben with ice core showing the 1889 meltlayer at B16, 200km from EGRIP.

Last night, Dorthe and Sepp told us that the NEEM bore hole had a block some 100 m down. Tomorrow, we will send equipment and drillers to remove the block. Therefore the NEEM logging will be delayed by one day. One the other hand, the AWI team successfully completed a shallow drilling and P-RES radar survey at Site B16, 200 km upstream from EGRIP. In, camp, work is progressing for all teams in action. More snow is removed from camp and in the caves, the isotope laboratory is chugging along, deep drill sections are made ready, shelves are made and mounted and water vapour sampling stations are being installed.

What we did today:

  1. At 8.30 Polar 5 flew AWI crew to B16 (N 73°56'07.9''; W 37°36'58.2''). They successfully completed both a shallow core drilling to 36.70 m, or more than 120 years of snow (at 35.83 m the 1898 melt layer showed up) and P-RES radar measurements. Plane and crew returned to EGRIP at supper time.
  2. Removal of snow around mechanics garage.
  3. Resetting the GEUS seismometer. Due to movement of the snow, the foot plate was not horizontal anymore.
  4. Opening staircase entry to drill trench.
  5. Setting up equipment for atmospheric moisture sampling and measurement.
  6. The NEEM team made P-RES radar measurements and took surface snow samples at NEEM site.
  7. Trimming of the ceilings in the snow caves.
  8. The isotope CFA laboratory today measured: bags 1953 to 1978 (1073.6m to 1087.9m)
  9. Collected parts for NEEM borehole clearing.
  10. Tested deep drill electronics/motor section.
  11. Work on electrical installations.

Ad.6: The bore hole logger at NEEM could not penetrate through a blockage 100 m down. This is probably caused by a thin layer of ice. Tomorrow, Polar 5 will fly to NEEM with bore hole camera, reaming equipment and two drillers. We believe this will open the hole for logging. In the event that the hole is opened, the drillers and equipment will return and Dorthe and Sepp will remain at NEEM for one more day.

EGRIP population is now 24 and NEEM population is 2.

Weather today: Fine, and less windy. Temp. - 9 °C to -17 °C. Wind: 9 kt to 18 kt from WSW and SW. Visibility: Unrestricted.

FL, J.P. Steffensen