May 28, 2018

Drilling, processing and spareribs

Sarah and Lydia make barbequed spareribs outside the dome.

Today, we took advantage of less wind and used snow blowers to bury our big balloon for another snow cave. Also, Sarah our cook, decided to try out our barbeque. It is a rare opportunity to be able to cook outside in May, and it was a success and we had spareribs for dinner. The drillers had their first day of working in shifts, which means that the ice core loggers have very long work days (they have only one shift). With everybody so busy, it is sometimes hard to find people who are available for camp duties. On the other hand, when everybody is so busy, it is an indication that the program is running in full speed. Science gets done, ice cores are drilled, everybody eat well, and we are warm and comfy.

What we did today:

1. Ice core drilling in two shifts. 21.73 m drilled in 8 runs.
2. Exchanged gear in horizontal band saw.
3. Large balloon for snow cave now buried. Will maintain pressure for three days.
4. Ice core processing 28.05 m, bags 782 - 832 (429.55 m – 457.60 m).
5. Measurements of isotopes in isotope laboratory.
6. Measurements of physical properties in physical properties laboratory.
7. Repairing snowmobiles. One is done and one is under way.
8. Water vapour sampling and measuring.
9. Surface snow sampling.

Ad.1: Drillers' depth 918.3 m. Core quality is great for brittle ice.
Most cores come out of the drill with one or two breaks. Most often, a few additional internal cracks appear while the core relaxes in the logging cabin. No additional cracks appear during the transfer of the core to the core buffer.

Weather today: Fine. Temp. -16 °C to -26 °C.  Wind: 3 kt to 10 kt from SW and S. Visibility: Unrestricted.

FL, J.P. Steffensen

Balloon project: The inflated balloon just before it got buried.