June 21, 2019

Airdrop at EGRIP

Drill liquid delivered by parachute! Today the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard trained their airdrop capabilities just north of EGRIP camp. It was spectacular to see skier 52 make the airdrop while drop zone personnel brought in by skier 51 monitored the accuracy of the airdrop

During this Greenland national day a spectacular operation took place at EGRIP. The 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard performed airdrop training – delivering some 7 tons of drill liquid to camp by parachute! The mission was amazing for all in camp to watch, and it was a 100% success with all the 9 bundles of drill liquid drums making nice landings on the soft snow. While skier 52 performed the airdrop, skier 51 was parked on the EGRIP apron having brought DVs, drop zone personnel and 9800 liters of fuel to camp. Hence this training mission has also been a great support for EGRIP logistics. Furthermore it was a real pleasure that skier 51 arrived in time for DVs, aircrew and drop zone personnel to get to see camp facilities before the airdrop took place – and even get a bit of Kevin’s always delicious food before departure.
Adding to an already successful day, the ice core processors successfully started the processing line and managed to get through 26 bags – very impressive on the first day as this EGRIP ice is brittle, and the day was cut short by the airdrop activities. On the surface another success-story, as the repaired drone made its first flight – landing safely north of the skiway. The MAGPIE team furthermore recovered two stations some 50km N and NE of camp.
During the evening we all toasted in recognition of Greenland National Day – and finally the Greenland flag was raised as the first in the EGRIP flag line.

What we did today:

1. Receiving skier 51 on skiway while skier 52 carried out airdrop of drill liquid.
2. Inspecting and recovering airdropped cargo from skier 51 and receiving fuel from skier 51.
3. Showing DVs, aircrew and drop zone personnel EGRIP camp facilities.
4. Terminating cable and mounting logger.
5. No ice core logging.
6. First ice core processing this season (26 bags processed today, final bag 1672).
7. Station for atmospheric moisture sampling and isotopic measurement is active.
8. Data processing in CFA laboratory.
9. PP measurements ongoing in science trench.
10. Filming for EGRIP virtual reality tour and photographing live in camp.
11. MAGPIE recovered stations NE of camp.
12. Flag line established.

EGRIP population is 40.

Weather: Cloudy in the morning turning sunny in the afternoon. Temp. -13 °C to -6 °C. Wind: 7 kt to 14 kt from SW turning S in the evening.

FL, Bo Vinther

Heavy sledges can be used both for airdrop spectators and for airdrop cargo recovery.

Left: In recognition of Greenland national day, Silje and Maaike made sure to put up the Greenlandic flag as the first in the EGRIP flag line. Center: Flag line with all flags later in the evening. Right: In the early evening Valerie celebrated a successful drone-flight landing north of camp.