Trevor is enjoying the quiet end of the drill trench as the first ice core of the week has come to surface.
June 22, 2023
Trevor is enjoying the quiet end of the drill trench as the first ice core of the week has come to surface.
The main drilling restarted today after a week of other activities in the drill trench. Two cores were drilled of which the first showed clear evidence of remaining glycol in the borehole. There was a band of the core eroded away and the chips on top of the core had a bluish glow. Still the core could be matched unambiguously to the previous core. The second core was 3+ m long but it took some minutes to break it free and it was stuck in the core barrel for some time at surface; something we have experienced a number of times over the last weeks, probably related to refrozen water. The Hungarian team terminated their drilling with a fifth 24 m shallow core, that has now been sampled. The GEUS team recovered the second AWS, this time with a little help from the Pistenbully. Finally, Tim worked again on the skiway, and a pallet with EGRIP equipment has been initiated at the apron. We are hoping for more calm conditions in the coming days.
What we did today:
Weather today: The wind started out in the undesirable E direction, then it died out completely at lunch time where it became incredibly warm. During the afternoon, the wind picked up again but this time from the more frequent W-SW direction. Temperatures -4°C to -10°C, and wind 0-20 kt from E until noon then W-SW.
FL, Anders Svensson
There is clear evidence of glycol presence in the borehole as the first drilled core of the day was partly eroded away. Also, the chips laying on top of the core (separated from core in left hand side) had a bluish glow.
Dorthe is taking d18O samples in drillers workshop for shipment to Copenhagen. We want to know what climatic period the deepest part of the ice sheet covers.