May 6, 2015

Final plane to NEEM camp today

Nanna and Anna inside the balloon trench fetching the food boxes.

An Air Greenland Twin Otter came to NEEM today to pick up Dean and Orlando from GLISN project and Georg, the Pistenbully mechanic. They landed at 12.06 and took off at 14.08 after refuelling 400 l fuel.
After this take off, the NEEM landing area is now officially closed, and we will begin to take down the markers. They will be set up again at EGRIP after we arrive there.
According to plan, we are now left to our own devices until beginning of June.
Since yesterday, we have experienced an increase in temperature by 10°C. This makes work outside much easier, and we accomplished a lot. We managed to open the balloon trench, and from inside the trench, we hauled an abundance of frozen food stored there since 2012. We have now enough frozen food to sink a navy.
The evening was peaceful, and after some chats and board games, people went early to bed. They have all been working hard and they deserve the rest.

What we have done today:

1. Final delivery of new Pistenbully.
2. GLISN seismic station maintenance is now completed.
3. Received Twin Otter, and three persons left camp.
4. After going through a hard snow layer, the balloon trench was opened, and all food brought to surface.
5. Maintenance of GrIT sled system.
6. Practiced with IDDO hand auger.
7. Working with GPS and GPR radar system.
8. German surface snow sampling.

Weather: Mostly thin, broken cloud cover. Temp. –19°C to -27°C, 8-11 knots from S. Visibility: Mostly 1-3 km. Few light snow showers.

We are now 10 NEEMers and 1 GrIT mechanic/driver in camp.

FL, J.P. Steffensen