June 3, 2019

Drilling on hold and MAGPIE station set up

Maaike and Silje just back from a 50 km skidoo drive from MAGPIE station.

The deep drilling started out well with two perfect runs in the morning. Unfortunately, the core barrel was lost in the third run and fishing had to be made afternoon and evening to recover the barrel. The core barrel is still in the hole, but different ideas for recovery are being tried out.
The MAGPIE project aims at better constraining the viscosity of the mantle below Greenland from measurements of mantle conductivity. Such measurements provide important information for modelling of the isostatic rebound when Greenland ice melts. Rebound occurs today due to the ice that was lost since the glacial period and it will increase in the future with global warming and increased ice mass loss. Today the MAGPIE team of Kate (AUS), Clint (US/N), Maaike (NL) and Silje (N) went 50 km west of camp to set up a measurement station. Follow the MAGPIE project at: https://magpiegreenland.wordpress.com

What we did today:

1. Drillers made two runs in the morning, then the core barrel was lost.
2. Logging ice cores. Logging depth, Monday: 1837.4 m.
3. Station for atmospheric moisture sampling and isotopic measurement is active.
4. The isotope CFA laboratory measured from bag 2808 to bag 2839 (1544.40m to 1561.45m).
5. The four MAGPIE project members set up station 50 km west of EGRIP.
6. Skiway grooming preparing for tomorrows flight.
7. A successful sampling was carried out with the water vapor drone.

EGRIP population is 28.

Weather: Blue sky in the morning, but overcast in the evening and poor contrast. Temp. – 13°C to -24°C. Wind: 3 kt to 7 kt from W and later NW. Clouds at 1600 ft.

FL, Anders Svensson