June 5, 2023

An unexpected helicopter visit at EGRIP

Indeed, the visit of the R66 helicopter from Icelandic Volcano Heli was the highlight of the day.

Another ‘boring’ day in the drill trench, exactly as we like them: four perfect ice cores all 3+ m long were drilled without any complications. Silence before the storm? We had been expecting all kind of difficulties related to drilling at this depth and feel we are pushing our luck.
In the morning, we unexpectedly received a request from a R66 helicopter pilot who wanted to make a fuel stop at EGRIP on route from Thule to Iceland. Never having had a helicopter landing et EGRIP, we were a bit skeptical about the feasibility of that mission. It’s a long way from Thule and the air is thin at the altitude of the ice cap. Nevertheless, at 3:33 pm the helicopter landed at the apron and was fueled at the ‘gas station’. Matthias, the Swiss pilot got a quick visit of the Dome. Most of camp went out to see the highlight of the day before the helicopter headed towards the East coast for the next pitstop before returning to Iceland tomorrow. Later, we got to know that it made it to the coast. It was the first time we had a helicopter at EGRIP, but Matthias had previously crossed the Inland ice in a similar manner at other latitudes. As Matthias mentioned, you only do this kind of long-distance crossing when the weather is as good as it is today, because there is no alternative airport to go to. Sometimes, it feels a bit like the wild west out here.

What we did today:

1. Drilled four long ice cores.
2. Logging depth: 2586.69 m. Processing depth: 2581.20 m.
3. Physical properties measurement 2566.3 m.
4. Received and fueled Helicopter R66 HB-ZTZ from Volcano Heli.
5. Moved fuel tank 2 from T-O parking site to apron, next to fuel tank 3.
6. Lifting the camp fitness to a higher level by intensified running and workout sessions.

Weather today: Fortunately, excellent weather for flying with blue sky and low winds all day long. In the daytime, temperatures -16°C to -12°C, but in the evening the blue sky transmitted all the IR radiation and temperatures dropped to -22°C. Wind 0-12 kt from SE turning S.

FL, Anders Svensson

Indeed, the visit of the R66 helicopter from Icelandic Volcano Heli was the highlight of the day.

Indeed, the visit of the R66 helicopter from Icelandic Volcano Heli was the highlight of the day.