June 19, 2023

New people, new activities and a Twin-Otter

Jakob and Remo with Pinger mounted in the drill trench before it is lowered into the borehole.

With a lot of new arriving field participants yesterday, many new activities are starting up in camp. In the drill trench, Jakob and Remo have installed their ‘Pinger’ that goes into the bottom of the borehole and will tell us how much ice we still need to drill to reach bedrock. It sends out a sound and waits for the reflection from the bedrock to determine the thickness of the ice. South of camp, a group of Hungarian scientists are drilling a number of shallow cores in order to trace the ‘tritium peak’ that is a result of atmospheric nuclear bomb tests carried out in the 19-sixties. They may also be able to trace other reference layers, such as the 1984 Chernobyl accident and possibly solar cycles. The Skier visiting yesterday made quite some deep tracks in the skiway and also blew some skiway flags out of alignment so quite some maintenance was necessary today. Just before dinner, the iconic Icelandic Nordland 6 Twin-Otter arrived with two crew and four scientists from the Greenland Geological Survey (GEUS) that will stay with us from some days and do maintenance of weather stations both at EGRIP and at other locations within one-day flying distance from camp.

What we did today:

1. Mounted and lowered Swiss ‘Pinger’ in borehole.
2. No drilling and no processing. PP measurement of younger samples.
3. Received Nordlandair 6 with four GEUS people and two crew.
4. Shallow drilling at Hungarian ‘tritium peak’ site.
5. Groomed in camp and on skiway after storm and Skier visit.
6. Fixed skiway flags.

Weather today: Today weather was back to normal with mostly blue sky and good outdoor conditions. Temperatures -14°to -22°C, wind 4-12 kt from W.

FL, Anders Svensson

It’s a beauty now parked next to main dome (and power line). Rumors say that it once participated in the Korea war, but now it is helping scientists determine the mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet.

Out at the Hungarian ‘Tritium peak’ site shallow drilling is at full swing down to some 24 m depth.

Out at the Hungarian ‘Tritium peak’ site shallow drilling is at full swing down to some 24 m depth.

Yesterday’s visit by the Skier made some damage to the skiway flag line that Meg and Jinhwa went out to repair. Meanwhile, Kenneth is documenting all camp activities.