May 17, 2023

A bigger camp

Sverrir driving the Caterpillar carrying retro-cargo towards Skier 32. The loadmaster in the rear of the plane gives directions.

Today we welcomed 9 new people here at EGRIP: Anders, Ashish, Bhikaji, Josephine L-C, Liz, Michael and Palle for camp itself as well as Brandan and Svein, who are both part of the Greendrill project. They will use EGRIP as a hub for operations some 300km further towards NE on the ice sheet during the coming weeks. Skier 32 flew the new crew members to camp, as well as cargo and fuel, both for camp and for the Greendrill project. While Skier 32 was unloading, loading and defueling, Iben also managed to give a tour of camp to Josephine K, our new FOM helper in Kangerlussuaq, before she returned on the same flight she came. A big thank you to the crew of Skier 32 for a very expedient and smooth resupply and staging mission to our camp!
While flight handling was ongoing, the drilling continued and another 2 beautiful ice cores was brought to the surface today. Logging and processing was also carried out today, so all in all a successful and very productive day here at EGRIP, where we have now increased camp population from 12 to 21 people – suddenly this feels like a much bigger camp!

What we did today:

1. Received Skier 32 bringing 10 PAX, 3 pallets and 2400 liters of fuel.
2. Loaded Skier 32 with 2 retro-pallets and 1 PAX.
3. Drilled two ice cores, drillers length: 3.19m and 3.26m.
4. Logged three ice cores, logged length 10.22m, loggers’ depth: 2468.66m.
5. Processed 1.65m of core, bags 4451 to 4453.
6. Briefed and quartered 9 new camp members, including 2 Greendrill crew.
7. Brought pallets to camp and started breaking down pallets.
8. Continued measuring temperature profile in shallow hole near camp.

Weather today: Sunny. Temperatures between -36°C and -24°C. Wind: 3-12kt turning from W to SW and decreasing during the day. Visibility: Unrestricted, except during ground fog in the morning.

FL, Bo M. Vinther

Romain, Nico, Grant and Sverrir defueling Skier 32. The fuel for camp is pumped from Skier 32 and stored in the white tank to the right.