The GRIP team ready to leave Summit Station to find the GRIP site.
May 3, 2024
The GRIP team ready to leave Summit Station to find the GRIP site.
Today there was less wind than the two previous days, so even though the temperature was lower, it was more pleasant to work outside. A perfect day to leave the station and travel to the GRIP site. After doing the last preparation for leaving Summit Station, we started our trip towards the GRIP site 9.30 am. The route out of the station is following the skiway to the northern end and then turning directly East. We followed our plan and went to the coordinates of the Caterpillar shovel, known from a camp map from 1992. With the GPR radar we located the position of the Caterpillar shovel before lunch. Since 1992 and until today the ice flowed 25m in 31°W direction. By locating the shovel we have also located the GRIP site!
After lunch we moved to the 1992 position of the drill dome. With our information about the movement of the shovel, we made a grid around the possible present day drill dome location. The rest of the afternoon we surveyed the outlined grid. Several reflections were observed in the collected data at around 15 m depth which we suspect being parts of the drill dome. The location of the casing remains unclear at this point. However, the data collected today is still being analyzed at the time of writing, and hopefully helps us to narrow down the search tomorrow.
What we did today:
Weather today: Sunny day with few thin clouds now and then. Wind 4-11 kt turning from S to E. Temperatures between -39°C and -23°C.
Daniel operates the radar. The green flag in the background marks today’s position of the Cat shovel.