June 28, 2022

Early arrival and late departure

Goodbye to the very helpful Polar 5 crew that has helped us out with shuttling passengers and cargo over the last week: Luke, Alan and Vicky.

At 5.30 am, the two TUNU Arctic trucks finally arrived at EastGRIP after an exhausting 18h drive from TUNU. As we had overcast and light snow showers in the morning the scheduled Polar 5 mission was postponed to the afternoon where the ceiling went up to 6000 feet and flight conditions became good. A late 6pm take-off terminated EastGRIP camps involvement in the TUNU project this year. The rover team successfully mounted belts on the rover wheels allowing the rover to drive in soft snow without digging itself down. The German shallow drilling in the shear zone had good progress from day one with 48m ice core drilled.
Main challenge was too warm temperatures at the surface. In six drone flights just below the cloud cover the drone team measured extreme water vapor fractionation. Very exciting results that will, however, not make ice-core interpretation any simpler. The Greenland radar team made another successful round trip crossing the shear margin at the shallow drill site. At 8 am in the morning, Sepp ordered a spare electric water heater at the camp logistics office. At 8 pm he received the heater that came in with Polar 5. Thank you FOMs for a fast and efficient parcel delivery in the middle of nowhere!

What we did today:

1. Received 2 Arctic trucks with 5 TUNU participants and cargo.
2. Received Polar 5 with food and mogas, departing with 1 camp member, 5 TUNU participants and cargo.
3. Finished the extended staircase to trenches and mounted tent on entrance.
4. Finished shaving off the walls in the inclined trench in drill trench.
5. Drilling with German shallow drill in shear zone SE of camp. Depth: 48 m.
6. EastGRIP radar system performed 50 km round trip E of camp.
7. The Greenland Exploration Rover got belts mounted on the wheels.
8. Powering up the new winch controller for the first time.
9. Performing 6 drone flights.
10. Preparation of TUNU retro gear pallets.

Weather today: Overcast all day, but pleasant warm and calm summer weather. Temp. -10°C to -5°C. Wind: 0 to 6 kt from ENE. Visibility: Unrestricted. Horizon visible all day and fair contrast.

FL, Anders Svensson

TUNU participants in front of their Arctic Truck ready for departure from EastGRIP.

Mounting belts on Rover wheels and driving in soft snow.