Saturday night in front of main dome.
May 20+21, 2023
Saturday night in front of main dome.
Drilling has continued in a good mode, but over the last days long ‘core catcher’ marks have developed on the cores that were brought to surface. This means that the core catchers have a hard time engaging and break the core. Whereas this could be related to the drill configuration, another possibility is that the ice has become softer. The core catcher springs were tightened several times, but nevertheless, the drill came to surface without a core on the first run Saturday. The core was left at the bottom of the bore hole and was recovered intact Sunday before dinner. Sure enough, there were core catcher marks all along the core.
Friday night the cryo-egg was descended into the borehole and wireless communication to the surface could be maintained until a depth of 1600 m, similar to what was achieved in 2022. The setup was then modified with an additional surface receiver set up at the position of the outermost weatherport (WP1), and Saturday night communication was possible down to 2200 m depth. A clear improvement compared to last year.
The Greendrill team was on hold at EGRIP most of the weekend due to weather at their site some 300 km down the ice stream. At the site, a landing strip has been marked, but as the surrounding area has large sastrugies (snow dunes) and there are crevasses not far away, visibility needs to be good at the landing site. Late Sunday afternoon one shuttle to the Greendrill site was deployed. Turn-around time 3.5h.
Saturday night we got a delicious 3-course menu for dinner: a salmon starter followed by a German specialty ‘Rinderrouladen’ with a number of side dishes prepared by Anna-Maria with help from Romain and Emma. For dessert, Bo had prepared a lovely portwine-soaked layered cake that looked like an ice cap. Then followed volleyball outside main dome and later the disco ball came to good use. It was a proper goodbye party for the participants that will soon leave camp.
What we did during the weekend:
Weather Saturday: Temperatures between -20°C and -14°C. Wind: 0-6kt turning from S to N. Visibility: Good.
Weather Sunday: Morning ground fog turned into overcast, low clouds and light snow showers during the day. Temperatures between -22°C and -17°C. Wind 4-8kt from N.
FL, Anders Svensson
Camp with Twin Otter seen from drone.
Drillers Emma and Iben with the core that was left in the borehole Saturday and recovered Sunday.
Nicholas and Liz doing experimental radar tomography with cryo-egg for determining crystal fabric.