This is how it looked yesterday. Today it should be covered with a thick layer of snow...
May 12, 2016
This is how it looked yesterday. Today it should be covered with a thick layer of snow...
The Daily for Thursday, May 12, is a bit delayed. All crew has been very busy round the clock to tame the big balloon animal. So no time for writing. And no time for sleeping.
Via phone, Friday 13 at 13 (09.00 in the camp) the following has escaped from camp: After many hours of intensive work the camp is completely calm. All crew is fast asleep after a long day and an even longer nights work.
Pumping up the balloons with air was quite a bigger job than expected. And covering it all with a thick layer of snow has been equally demanding.
The next 3 days the balloons will be checked every 3 hours to make sure that the "animals" do not break too much wind… the pressure has to be kept constant until the snow has become solid as rock.
For a couple of years this layer will be the roof of the trenches where the drilling, measurements and a large number of useful scientific work will be carried out.
Weather is more or less unchanged: Little wind, fairly cold but sunny.
This page will be updated with news from camp as soon as it lands in our mailbox.
Lone Holm Hansen for FL
Balloons lined up before unpacking.
Now the big task is done: All balloons are now buried under several meter snow, and the snow surface is flat again with only a few ventilation shafts and hoses sticking out of the snow. A few bamboo flags mark the site of the days and nights drama.
We started early, mounting the last ventilation shafts and arranging the balloons in the bottom of the excavated trench. Then the hoses were connected and all hoses were led to a tent housing our pump station. At 1600 pumping began, and after 2 hours the small balloons were pressurized. At 2130 the large green balloon was pressurized, followed by the white NEEM balloon at 2230.
Then we began to blow snow back onto the balloons with the Pistenbully and a Yanmar. The other Pistenbully maintained a snow supply by pushing snow. We worked through the night and at 0630 the task was completed. Now we have to wait three days, where we maintain pressure in the balloons, until the snow hardens. In three days it will be revealed if the operation has been a success. At least, the balloon part has been a success through the hard work of all camp personnel, and through the careful production and supply of all necessary balloons and parts by the Danish company Presenco.
What we have done today:
Weather today: Mostly clear, in the night thin clouds. Temp. -15°C to -27°C, Wind 10-15 kt from W to SW. Visibility: To horizon.
FL, J.P. Steffensen
Laying hoses. From left to right: Christian, J.P., Joel, Malte and Kaitlin.
Hans Christian, Malte and Kaitlin assemble the last ventilation pipes in the excavation.
The balloons are in place in the excavation.
The balloons are being inflating. The balloon for the lift is held vertically with a crane.
Christian, Joel and Malte are turning a balloon.
The interior of the pump station. The pressure gauges are placed on the wooden plate.
The balloons are almost inflated. To the left in the excavation, the end of the tunnel balloon is seen.
The balloons are pressurized when the Pistenbully is working.