May 9, 2017

Wind, cold and drifting snow

Hans Christian and Maria are mounting equipment on the water vapour and methane sampling tower.

I know, it is a bit monotone to talk about the weather all the time; but we are quite dependent on it. Most of today, we had strong winds, and as temperature dropped, it became very cold to work outside. A lot of snow was dozed away from the mechanics garage so now the surface around the garage is level the surroundings. Several of the national flags in the flag line fell in the wind. We had to punch holes in the snow to keep them standing.
In the drill trench, work continued and today the drillers were able to operate the new drill electronics and motor control. They will soon use this new unit to continue the reaming, i.e. enlarging the diameter of the 100 m deep borehole. Once the reaming is complete, the drillers will use the winch and tower to lower the casing pipes. Once the casing pipes are in place and sealed at 80 m depth, they can begin to add drilling fluid without fluid escaping into the porous firm.
Our new internet connection is so good that all people have access. This afternoon Sverrir was watching Icelandic television news on his cell phone.

What we did today:

1. Finished removing snowdrifts around mechanics garage. Vehicle hot line installed.
2. Work in the drilling trench.
3. Work on setting up tables at stations in the science trench.
4. Work on radar connection and software.
5. Local telephone system on line.
6. German snow sampling.
7. Japanese aerosol sampling and snow experiments in progress.
8. Water vapour sampling, methane sampling, boundary layer and meteorology station completed.

Weather today: In the morning thin overcast, later clearing. Strong wind and snow drift until evening. Temp. -15°C to -28°C. Wind: 12 kt to 22 kt from NNW. In the evening 2 kt WNW. Visibility: Down to 500 m in the morning, later down to horizon.

FL, J.P. Steffensen