May 18 and 19, 2019

A weekend at EGRIP with much activity (and drama)

A silent testimony to the brave people (Dominic, Frederik, Trevor and Sepp) who day after day only appear in daily reports as: “Trimming caves and removing snow blocks”. This snow dragon is built from blocks hauled up through the hole visible in the cluster of flags at the head of the dragon.

Due to the problem with an ice blockage in NEEM bore hole, the AWI drill and radar team stayed at EGRIP to allow Polar 5 to fly to NEEM with people and equipment to remove the blockage. The blockage was removed and logging at NEEM could continue. Sunday, the AWI team flew to Site B19, drilled an ice core and performed radar measurements. Logging at NEEM encountered a dramatic moment on Sunday as the logger was stuck at 2433 m depth. After a couple of hours, the logger was pulled free and logging was completed Sunday evening. The removal of snow around camp structures is now completed and camp is in fully established. The skiway, taxiways , apron and a new parking spot for a Twin Otter have been groomed. We expect a visit from the U.S./Swiss PARCA project in the coming days. Saturday evening dinner was prepared by Dominic, Frederik and Iben. Menu: Salmon, duck and chocolate cake.

What we did Saturday and Sunday:

1. Sunday at 12.15 Polar 5 flew AWI crew to B19 (N 77°59'33.4''; W 36°23'32.0''). They successfully completed both a shallow core drilling to 37.11 m and P-RES radar measurements. Plane and crew returned to EGRIP at 22.30.
2. Removal of snow around mechanics garage is completed. Heavy vehicles now parked at mechanics garage.
3. Saturday: The drillers flown to NEEM successfully removed ice blockage.
4. Calibrating equipment for atmospheric moisture sampling and measurement.
5. Sunday: The NEEM team completed bore hole logging of deep hole.
6. Trimming of the ceilings in the snow caves.
7. The isotope CFA laboratory this weekend measured: bags 1979 to 1994 and 1995 – 2010 (1087.9m to 1105.5m)
8. Aligned deep drilling tower, drillers are now ready for filter runs.
9. Work on surface electronics of deep drill.
10. Grooming skiway, apron and preparing parking for Twin Otter.
11. Routine maintenance stop of main generator.

Ad.3: Saturday, Trevor and Steff flew to NEEM with bore hole camera and reaming equipment. After 5 hours, the ice blockage was removed and bore hole logging continued, and Trevor and Steff returned to EGRIP. Logging continued Saturday evening and Sunday. Sunday afternoon, the logger got stuck at a very narrow point in the bore hole at 2433m depth. The crew managed to get the logger un-stuck, and Sunday evening logging was completed.

EGRIP population is now 24 and NEEM population is 2.

Weather Saturday and Sunday: Mostly fine with temporary cloud cover. Temp. - 10 °C to -18 °C. Wind: 9 kt to 18 kt from SW and SSW. Visibility: Unrestricted.

FL, J.P. Steffensen