June 27, 2022

TUNU operation closing down

Søren hanging in a rope widening the 6 m deep inclined trench. The drill tower is horizontal position on top of the trench.


With the nice weather continuing, it is possible to have good progress for many activities. The TUNU camp has now been closed, all ice cores and camp equipment has been flown to EastGRIP and two Arctic trucks are en route to EastGRIP with the last TUNU participants. They are on a bumpy road travelling the 300 km from TUNU to EastGRIP in some 16h. In the afternoon, a small satellite camp was set up some 13 km SE of main camp in the ‘shear’ zone, where the ‘fast’ flowing ice stream we are situated on meets the more static part of the ice sheet. An exciting location to investigate ice sheet dynamics by drilling and analysing a shallow ice core. The radar team made their first longer round trip with the Polypod radar setup following some previously measured flight lines.
The drone had six flights today and flight no. 50 was celebrated by the busy drone team. In the drill trench, the excavations continue and today the miners worked on the 6 m deep inclined trench. The inclined trench is where half of the drill tower dips in when in upright position.
Because of the compression of the firn over the last three years, the trench has become too narrow for the drill tower to enter, and it thus need to be expanded.

What we did today:

  1. Polar 5 finished pullout of TUNU camp by movement of remaining cargo in one shuttle.
  2. Polar 5 then departed for SFJ with 3 crew, 1 camp member and 4 TUNU people.
  3. Two Arctic Trucks with 5 PAX departed from TUNU at around noon for the 300 km trip.
  4. Working on freeing the newly extended staircase to trenches and mounting surface cover.
  5. Expanding the inclined trench in drill trench.
  6. Setting up German shallow drill in shear zone 13.2 km SE of camp.
  7. EastGRIP radar system performed 40 km round trip north of camp.
  8. Greenland Exploration Rover tests and troubleshooting.
  9. Six drone flights today. 50 flights celebration.

Weather today: Mostly sunny and clear sky, but overcast in the evening. Temp. -21°C to -8°C. Wind: up to 9 kt from E during the day but calm in the evening. Visibility: Unrestricted.

FL, Anders Svensson