June 7, 2019

Summer is arriving to EGRIP

Lucas and Lydia are continuing the excavations of the underground trenches by removing snow blocks from the roof.

After a couple of days with slow drill penetration is was suggested today that possibly the sensor detecting rotation of the drill is unreliable. This would mean that when drilling, the entire drill may have been rotating in the borehole instead of just the drill head. This evening the skates on the anti-torque section of the drill were sharpened in an attempt to solve the issue. The following runs will show if things have improved. As always, Sarah is spoiling us with delicious dishes and cakes. Today, dinner was Lamb a la Greque with baklava for dessert. Mums. Outdoor temperatures have been rising and the forecast predicts -2°C for tomorrow. If so, we may end up with an outdoor barbecue Saturday night.

What we did today:

1. Drilling has been slow as problem solving is ongoing.
2. Ice core logging depth: 1860.2 m (length: 10.1 m).
3. Station for atmospheric moisture sampling and isotopic measurement is active.
4. Work on alignment of camera for smooth monitoring of photo transect.
5. The isotope CFA laboratory bag 2926 to bag 2956 (length 16.50 m).
6. MAGPIE staying at EGRIP preparing for coming deployments.
7. Working on solving an issue on the ice fabric C-axis analyzer.
8. Tidying up camp and securing entrance to main dome.
9. Continued excavations of underground tunnels.

EGRIP population is 24. EGRIP average age is 37 years.

Weather: Sunny and calm all day. Temperatures rising to -9°C. In the evening overcast. Temp. -9°C to -22°C. Wind: 2 kt to 10 kt from W and SW.

FL, Anders Svensson

Nicholas is working on the skates that prevent rotation of the drill when the drill head is cutting.