June 6, 2022

House cleaning

Valerie and Haley transport a tent to serve as hanger for their drone.

During the storm, snow got into everything and everywhere and snowdrifts formed many places in camp. Our access ramps to underground caves were filled up so today, we cleaned a bit up. We hope for an LC-130 flight tomorrow, so our skiway was groomed. It is still overcast with poor contrast; but the wind is gentle and made it possible to work out side.
Michael, Chantal and H.C., who take samples from the large snowpits have also been challenged by the storm; but they carry on. Valerie, Kevin R. and Haley carry on with the drone project. Daniela and John work on radar data and hope to be able to fly another radar flight soon. The four Polar 5 crew Alan, Vicky, Luke and Clemens also hope to be flying again soon, while Chiara, Bruno, Sepp, Chris, Sverrir, Bo, Thomas, Charlotte, Kevin C. and J.P. try to keep camp running.

What we did today:

1. Fixing outhouses after storm.
2. Grooming skiway, taxiways and apron.
3. Retrieving drums from snow and building retro cargo pallets.
4. Re-opening storage cave and cook’s freezer.
5. Removing ice along one side of mechanic’s garage.
6. Megapit study continues.
7. One flight with drone.

Ad.6: Status on MEGA-trench
Trench 1: 12 AWI profiles sampled down to 3 meters
5 UIB profiles sampled to 3 meters
4 liners profiles taken
1 4-meter UBERN profile
1 3-meter UBERN profile
Radar traverse along trench
Hardness transect
Theodolite
Depth of Bamboos
15 Stratigraphy layers mapped

Weather today: Overcast most of the day. Temp. -20°C to -14°C. Wind: 10-12 kt from NNW. QNH 1015 hPa. Visibility: 2 km, light snow.

FL, J.P. Steffensen

After the storm. Ice crystals in the air form a halo.

All hands on deck for labeling sample vials for the Megapit study.