Daily reports from the NGRIP-camp - week 31 year 2000
Monday, July 31st
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| Daily life |
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| Science |
Due to the large amount of glycol in the lower part of the bore hole
a plug has formed in the hole at a depth of 88 m above bottom. The plug
is a slush cake of glycol and/or ice. At first the bailer used to empty
the hole for glycol cannot break through the plug. Therefore it was first
tried to dump a little frozen glycol into the hole, but this could not
remove the plug. Then a sort of scraper was mounted on the rotating bailer
and in second try this arrangement could go through the slush. It was found
too risky to try to penetrate the plug with the drill. In the last run
the bailer went down to 82.5 m above bottom.
After several weeks of hard work the continuous chemistry measurement
(CFA) has almost caught up with the drilling. The measurement is expected
to be finished tomorrow, just in time to celebrate the Swiss national day. |
| Logistics |
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Tuesday, August 1st
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| Daily life |
| The Swiss national day: A delicious Swiss meal was served for dinner.
At the same time the termination of the continuous chemistry measurement
(CFA) for this season was celebrated. |
| Science |
| The glycol in the bore hole is still a troublemaker, and it takes a
long time to pull up several hundred liters of glycol and drill liquid
from 3 km's depth. The scraper mounted on the bailer is modified in order
to make it penetrate the glycol slush more efficiently. At the end of the
day, after 23 bailer runs, the hole is cleaned for glycol down to 70 meters
above bottom. |
| Logistics |
| In the middle of the night the main generator stopped in main dome.
The reason was a lack of cooling liquid (glycol) and after a refill and
a restart it was happy again. |
Wednesday, August 2nd
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| Daily life |
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| Science |
| The cleaning of the bore hole continues. Today it's possible to go
about 5 m deeper for each bailer run, and at the end of the day the hole
is clean down to 38 m above bottom. When the bailer comes up at 7 pm it
is damaged: The bottom is pressed out and some bolts are bend. The damage
is thought to have occurred by freezing of glycol and water in the bailer
while it went up through the bore hole. The temperature throughout the
hole is lower than the temperature at the bottom. |
| Logistics |
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Thursday, August 3rd
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| Daily life |
| Maintenance of vehicles and tents are a everyday task. Now every thing
is being made ready to be packed away for the winter. So that they will
function nicely next summer. |
| Science |
The CFA is finishing with a calibration, before the instruments
are packed.
Today the bore hole was logged. The logging took most of the afternoon
and evening. Logging the bore hole means measuring the bore hole diameter,
pressure, inclination and the direction of the inclination, and the bore
hole temperature. The measurements are sampled for every meter, and are
of great precision. i.e. the temperature is measured with an accuracy of
0.01K and the temperature difference between the two sensors have a resolution
of 0.001K. |
| Logistics |
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Friday, August 4th
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| Daily life |
| Quiet weather with -12°C to -15°C and light snowfall. |
| Science |
| The cleaning of the bore hole still continues, it's a slow and troublesome
work. Today the bailer got stuck approximately 31 m's above the bottom
as another slush plug had formed. A more aggressive scraper had to be mounted
on the bailer, where after the plug could finally be penetrated. Besides
the cleaning of the bore hole people in camp are working on calibrating
the last measurements, processing data and packing down. |
| Logistics |
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Saturday, August 5th
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| Daily life |
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| Science |
| The cleaning of the bore hole seems to continue slow but steadily now.
The hole has now been cleaned down to 23 m's above the bottom, and the
bailing continuous through the night, as it is feared the another slush
plug may otherwise form. |
| Logistics |
| The different vehicles in camp are going through a final maintenance
before this year's season is over. Packing down of the camp continuous. |
Sunday, August 6th
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| Daily life |
| The weather is still showing it's nice side . Temperatures are between
-16°C and -12°C, some wind during the daytime, but in the evening
no wind and no ground fog. |
| Science |
| Well, it seems no sunday without something goes wrong ..... Today the
bailer got stuck in the bore hole only 7 meter above the bottom of the
hole. How unlucky can we get ?! First it was tried to pull the bailer up,
but when this failed, frozen glycol was dumped into the hole, and for every
hour, more glycol is dumped into the hole. The cable was left with tension
on, so the bailer would come up, as soon as the glycol had removed whatever
it was stuck in. Let's hope for good news tomorrow. |
| Logistics |
| Everything in camp is being packed and cleaned, today it was the warm
CFA lab and the utility dome which was cleaned and packed. |
Read more about Week 32
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