May 8, 2018

Finally, the German Basler arrived

The Basler finally landing at EGRIP.

Today was the day. The air over North Greenland is now dry and cold and the Basler made it to EGRIP at 12.05. After a short break, they flew a two hour radar survey in the vicinity of EGRIP. We say hello to Tobias and the Basler crew: Bill, George and Eric. It is very cold here. We just discovered that our thermometer does not go deeper than -40°C. As we had some wind, the chill factor was below -50°C most of the day. Work in camp continues however, particularly in the trenches. At -28°C they are significant warmer than it is on the surface. Snow blocks are cut and hauled to the surface through the ramp tunnel. In this cold, our generator has something to do producing about 50kW even though activities in the trenches are minimal.

What we did today:

1. Slot in drill trench ceiling is finished.
2. Receiving the German Basler.
3. Working on the wheels of the horizontal band saw.
4. Logging brittle zone cores from 2017: Start 702.10 m, end 729.23 m.
5. Making fuel pump and electrical connections for Basler ready.
6. Basler flew lines around camp for two hours.
7. Setting up water vapour sampling site.
8. Trimming walls in science trench for levelling tables.

Weather today: In the morning ice fog. The rest of the day fine. Temp. -30°C to lower than -40°C (thermometer on met. station bottoms out at -40°C).  Wind: 8 kt to 12 kt from SW. Visibility: Morning: 5 km. Afternoon and evening: Unrestricted.

FL, J.P. Steffensen