May 29, 2018

Good that we chose barbeque yesterday

Another migratory bird: Royal Danish Air Force Challenger taking pictures of us, while we take a picture of them.

The wind has come back again today, so yesterday was just a short break.
People are beginning to mutter about the persistent wind, and it is really annoying constantly to have wind chill factor between -30 °C and-40 °C. It makes it difficult to enjoy the sunshine. For people in the trenches, the issue is not as annoying as for people working on the surface, both in science and logistics. Surface science people are smearing face protection cream on in a thick layer every day, as they are really exposed with no shelter when they for a long time each day collect snow samples. Today we had some guests for a very short time, as the Royal Danish Air Force flew over camp on a routine inspection. We had a nice chat with the crew via radio, and all in camp got a good photo opportunity.

What we did today:

1. Ice core drilling in two shifts. Status at 20.00: 10.77 m drilled in 4 runs. Drillers’ depth: 929.36 m.
2. Adding snow to roof of large balloon snow cave.
3. Second last Nansen sled under repair.
4. Ice core processing 33.00 m, bags 833 - 892 (457.60 m – 490.60 m).
5. Measurements of isotopes in isotope laboratory. Isotope CFA at bag 712.
6. Measurements of physical properties in physical properties laboratory.
7. Water vapour sampling and measuring.
8. Surface snow sampling.

Weather today: Fine, but windy. Temp. -17 °C to -29 °C.  Wind: 14 kt to 16 kt from SW. Slight snow drift. Visibility: Unrestricted.

FL, J.P. Steffensen