May 16, 2018

Preparations for flight tomorrow are finished

Bruno making the final adjustments to the freezer system.

One of the first milestones of the season was reached today, as logging of the brittle core from 2017 was completed. All ice inside the ice core buffer is now ready to be processed by the team arriving tomorrow. As the buffer is nearly full, it is important that ice cores are processed at the same rate as the drillers produce new ice cores. The drillers are almost ready to begin drilling. The flight tomorrow will mark the transition from building up camp to ice core drilling and ice core science. Everything seems to work at this stage, so we cross our fingers for a good and productive season. The German/Canadian radar team arranged for a tour inside their plane, and it is interesting that so much high-tech can be crammed into a re-vitalized world war 2, 1943 Douglas Dakota.

What we did today:

1. Making longer version of heating boxes for drill.
2. Filter runs and run-in of both motor sections.
3. German Basler did not fly today due to cloudy weather.
4. Logging ice cores to 904.88 m. Logging of 2017 brittle ice is completed.
5. Adjusting freezer system for logging cabin. Defrost cycles are boosted.
6. Built retro pallet for plane tomorrow. Cleaned up in cargo line.
7. Work in internet issues and Doppler radar software.
8. Water vapour sampling and measuring.
9. Surface snow sampling.
10. Weatherport 2 completed with power and beds. There are now 36 beds in camp.
11. The German Basler team arranged “open house” inside the aeroplane.

Weather: Most of the day mixed cloud cover with intermittent snow showers. Periods with overcast and periods with sunshine. Temp. -16°C to -25°C.  Wind: 4 kt to calm from NNW turning NNE. Visibility: Unrestricted. Down to 2 km during snow.

FL, J.P. Steffensen

Basile mounting beds in weatherport 2.