Monday 1st July 2024
The EGRIP warehouse in Kangerlussuaq. In front of it we find Airforce pallets, borehole casing tubes, rolled ‘magic carpet’ sledges for traverse to GRIP in 2025, two Skidoos from the Greendrill project and a row of containers with field gear for participants
With the drilling terminated and most people packing equipment or staying indoor due to snowfall, there is not much exciting news to report today. For a change we feature some pictures from Kangerlussuaq (SFJ), where our Field Operation Manager (FOM) is taking care of business during the field season. If not involved with field work it is probably hard to imagine just how much logistics is required to support an ice-core camp on the ice sheet. Tons and tons of scientific equipment, food, ice cores, fuel and other cargo are being shipped by plane and by boat between SFJ and many destinations around the world. All of this needs to be handled through SFJ to be palletized and loaded on the C-130 Skiers that take care of the transport to and from EGRIP. To manage this, we have a FOM office in the Kangerlussuaq International Science Support (KISS) building that is manned by one or several FOMs and a warehouse where all of our stuff is stored in transit. In addition, all the field participants are passing though KISS on their way to and from EGRIP, so in periods the FOM office and the KISS building are busy hubs. Last week we said goodbye to Thomas Blunier as a FOM and he is now replaced by Marie Kirk who unfortunately started out being sick the first days in office. Therefore, we will not disturb her with a selfie until she is well again.
What we did today:
Weather today: Part-time overcast, some snowfall and some blue sky. Temperatures from -12 °C to -4 °C. Wind 8-17 kt from E turning SSW.
FL, Anders Svensson
Inside the warehouse it is packed with stuff that is in transit or more permanently stored. The long boxes contain ice-core drill parts that are drying out after having been deployed at EGRIP
Previous FOM Thomas Blunier with a pile of Zarges boxes in the warehouse
Kangerlussuaq is a busy airport. Here a helicopter sling load is going to a camp where a UK team are using EGRIP 'cryoegg' to explore the subglacial hydrology