Daily reports from the NGRIP-camp - week 21 year 2001
Monday, May 21st
|
| Daily life |
| Today is a day with a flight mission planned. Mail and new people
will arrive today. The wind is rather heigh for missions, 12-15 knots, but
during the mission the wind drops to 6 knots. The flight operation is successful
and there is 19 people in the NorthGRIP camp now. |
| Science |
| The bailer is ready to be lowered down into the borehole. The bailer
is an instrument to be used to remove the glycol poored down in the hole
last year to free the stuck drill and bailer. It is an hollow tube with valves
in both ends. The bailer is lowered with open valves. When the position
is reached from which you what to remove liquid, the valves are closed
so the liquid in the bailer can be pulled up to the surface. The bailer can
be lowered to 2833m and it is assumed that there is an icebridge here. The
liquid in the bailer containes glycol. |
| Logistics |
| During the last week great effort has been put into maintaining the
skiway. After recieving and departing a ski-equipped Hercules the surface
of the skiway is seen to be broken up several places. Under 10 cm of
hard snow a layer of loose snow is found. A 'grooming' by the Hercules is
the best way to harden the surface. The skier got airborn during 2.
attempt. A very successful mission! |
Tuesday, May 22nd
|
| Daily life |
Summer has arrived at NGRIP. No wind today and temperatures from -16
to -24 C. They is a great interest in working on the surface and many tasks
are done here.
|
| Science |
The bailing of glycol from the borehole continues - but slowly! The
present bailing depth is 2859 m.
|
| Logistics |
The group of scientists that arrived monday have unpacked their gas-pumping
equipment and the site where the shallow boreholes will be drilled for the
gas pumping programs has been established.
|
Wednesday, May 23rd
|
| Daily life |
Good weather, but windy. The surface work continues.
|
| Science |
After many attempt to bail it is concluded that the bailer is not
able to penetrate due to a hard layer in the borehole. At the end of the
day it is decided to mount the drill and drill through the hard layer tomorrow.
|
| Logistics |
The setup of the gas pumping experiments continue. As it has been
decided to measure a few parameters on the ice cores that will be drilled
up from the gas pumping boreholes, the science trench is been prepared for
measurements.
|
Thursday, May 24th
|
| Daily life |
The temperatures are -13 to -20 C but the wind is up and there is
blowing snow in the air.
|
| Science |
The short Hans Tausen drill is mounted and the drill teams sucessfully
drills through a 50 cm hard layer. The 'plug' does not come up with the drill.
The bailer is mounted again and during the first bailing run the 'plug' is
smashed by the bailer.
|
Logistics
|
A quiet day. The high light is a 'repair' of a small generator by
removing glycol from the tank and filling the tank with diesel!
|
Friday, May 25th
|
| Daily life |
A good day with temperatures between -17 and -26 C.
|
| Science |
The gas-pumping groups are ready and the drilling of holes start.
The first cores are drilled with a handdrill. Two holes are drilled: one
for the Japanese group and one for the European/American group. Cores are
drilled until the holes have the desired depth. The gas pumps are lowered
to the bottom of the hole and the air is pumped out of the firn there. Drilling
is reasumed until the next depth is reached and gas is pumped again....
Another surface project is a big 'dust pit' in which big amounts of snow
is sampled from a known depth inteval. The snow is melted and the the dust
is filtered from the water. .
|
| Logistics |
The good weather allows the surface team to use the snow blowers to
remove the snow that drifted down into the drill trench and the freezer ramps
earlier this week.
|
Saturday, May 26th
|
| Daily life |
Saturday evening again! There is tradition in the NGRIP camp to enjoy
good food, dance and have a good time this evening.
|
| Science |
The bailing of the deep hole continues. A routine has been established
so the bailer and the Hans Tausen drill are used to remove glycol and ice
bridges regardingly. The depth today is 2887 m. It is a surprise that the
drillers can drill with the drill even when the diameter of the hole is known
to be too big.
|
| Logistics |
|
Sunday, May 27th
|
| Daily life |
A quiet morning after the party last night. The weather is still good.
|
| Science |
The Japanese gas-pumping hole is now 15 m deep and 5 gas samples have
been collected. The European/American hole is 10 m and 37 samples have been
taken. The handdrill has been replaced by the danish shallow drill.
In the 'dust-pit' over 500 kg of snow has been sampled in 3 samples.
The bailing/drilling continues and the depth today is 2903 m. Only 24 meters
to go before the bottom of the borehole is reached and new ice cores can
be drilled.
|
| Logistics |
Only one comment from the camp: repair of toilet!
|
Continue to Week 22
|
