July 18, 2022

Hurry up and wait

Our old caterpillar is struggling to lift a heavy pallet in the soft snow.

Today we had scheduled to receive a Skier from Kanger in the afternoon, but as we had snow drift during the night, low clouds and temperatures up to -2C, the conditions were close to the worst possible for the skiway, and we decided to postpone the flight for tomorrow. It may seem paradoxical, but high temperatures close to the melting point are a problem with flights, as the snow becomes sticky and the planes often have difficulties taking off with a heavy load. Also, the plane’s skies may break through the hard surface of the skiway and spoil it for the following flights. And we are counting on heavy loads of ice, cargo and passengers for the coming flight missions both for landing and take-off.
With all surface programs ended and all cargo packed up ready for shipment on pallets, we are thus in the well-known mode of ‘hurry up and wait’, that most people dealing with arctic weather and flights are familiar with. The drilling continues uninterrupted of the logistical challenges, and with a daily production of 15-20m (crossing fingers that it continues like that), we are likely to get significantly closer to bedrock this season. And that really is what matters!

What we did today:

1. Drilled 5 runs. Logger’s depth at 7 pm: 2198.62 m. Logged core: 15.99 m.
2. Packing and weighing pallets.
3. Working on fixing a software issue with line scanner in science trench.
4. Worked on new entrance to the drill trench after removal of balloon.
5. Cleared entrances to trenches.
6. Groomed skiway all day long.

Weather today: Low clouds, warm and humid conditions. Temperatures -6.8°C to -1.5°C. Wind: 0-12 kt from Northerly directions.

FL, Anders Svensson

Strapped pallets ready to be loaded onto the plane.