July 10, 2019

Hello and goodbye

Arriving in EGRIP camp on Skier 32.

Today we received skier 32 in camp, bringing with it 8 DVs, 2 NHK television crew, as well as 8 new camp members. We also received both fuel and cargo, a much appreciated resupply, especially all the fresh fruits and vegetables. As always when we have skier operations, it is first time to say hello to the incoming passengers, and then shortly after goodbye to all the outgoing camp crew – a heartfelt farewell, as some camp members has spend many weeks together here at EGRIP. On the other hand it was a pleasure to say hello to all the new arrivals – not least our DVs and the NHK media crew, whom we are keen to show our EGRIP science operations in the coming days.
Todays skier operation was even a little more exciting than usual, due to the cloudy conditions and relatively warm temperatures that we have had in camp for the last 36 hours. Hence the meteorological equipment at EGRIP was put to full use, to give the skier updated and accurate information on cloud levels, atmospheric pressure and wind conditions in camp via. radio. And in the end the professionalism of the skier crew made for a nice smooth landing here on the EGRIP skiway, much to the satisfaction of Chris who has spent countless hours taking good care of the EGRIP skiway.
Of course the skier also needed to be able to depart, heavily loaded with our valuable EGRIP deep ice cores. Given that the relatively high temperatures inevitably soften our skiway, the skier take-off was tensely monitored from camp, but again all concerns were put to rest by the beautiful departure of skier 32 making good use of most of the EGRIP skiway to gain the necessary speed to get airborne.
When we have skier operations, most other work in camp has to be halted, but we still manged to keep the surface program running and do some processing and measurements in the science trench before the skier arrived.

What we did during the day:

1. Receiving skier 32 with 18 PAX, cargo and fuel for camp.
2. Hosting 8 DVs and to NHK media in camp.
3. Saying goodbye to 14 camp members and 39 boxes of EGRIP ice core.
4. Ice core processing of 30 bags, including detailed isotope samples, last bag 3751.
5. CFA measurements of 17 bags, last bag 3397.
6. PP measurements in science trench, last bag 3626.
7. Station for atmospheric moisture sampling and isotopic measurement is active.

EGRIP population is 37.

Weather: Wind between 2kts and 10kts gradually turning from SE to W and increasing during the day. Cloudy and moist conditions prevailed during the entire day. Temperatures from -6°C to -4°C.

FL, Bo Vinther