May 23, 2017

We received a flight and had crew exchange

Passengers embarking on the LC-130 at EGRIP airport.

Today, the LC-130 arrived with long awaited spareparts and equipment and food. And we said good bye to Harald, Motohiro, Jan, Grant, Elizabeth, Steffen and Camilla, and hello to Rasmus, Ilka, Benjamin, Jianzhong, Eliza and Christian. We are now 28 in camp. The operation went fine and the weather was delightful. Soon after the new people were assigned berthing, everybody participated in unpacking arriving cargo. In this environment it is particularly important to get the fresh food, e.g. vegetables, under roof and away from frost. A lot of people pitched in and under the careful instruction of Sarah the food was quickly stowed.
A couple of modular freezers arrived too and they will be assembled inside the science trench. Here they will be used opposite to “normal”. They will be heated inside to provide warm laboratories inside the snow cave.

What we did today:

1. Received Skier 31 (90), bringing 12 tons of cargo and passengers.
2. Unpacked 4 pallets of equipment, food and spareparts.
3. Adjusted core extraction system inside freezer, which is now maintained at -30°C.
4. Introduced new drillers to the drill site. Mounted the long version of the HT drill, and aligned the tower.
5. Installing infrastructure in science trench.
6. German snow sampling.
7. Japanese aerosol sampling and snow experiments.
8. Water vapour sampling, methane sampling, boundary layer and meteorology station working.

Ad.5: Two warm laboratories for the science trench arrived today, and already these modular structures are being assembled.

Weather today: Sunshine. Fog in the morning. Temp. -17°C to -30°C. Wind: 4 - 10 kt from WSW. Visibility: To horizon.

FL, J.P. Steffensen

The “airport ground crew”: Trevor, Hans Christian, Dennis, Sverrir and J.P.

The LC-130 laying “eggs” in the form of 2.5 ton pallets.