Daily reports from the NGRIP-camp - week 29 year 2001
Monday, July 16th
|
| Daily life |
|
| Science |
| The logging of the bore hole is prepared. During the logging the temperature
and the inclination in the bore hole will be measured. |
| Logistics |
The skiway is sufficiently hard for tomorrow's flight, and the weather
is clearing. Everybody is hoping for cold weather for tomorrow's skier
mission. When the snow gets to warm it becomes "sticky", and the C130's
have problems to take off from the ice. In that case some of the cargo
is often left on the ice, and rockets (ATO's) are used for take off. If
nothing helps the plane and crew has to stay in camp until temperatures
are lower, usually at 4 a.m.
Pallets with cargo for tomorrows flight are prepared. |
Tuesday, July 17th
|
| Daily life |
| The plane brought new people to camp. At the moment the are only 13
people in camp, and 9 of them were exchanged with this flight. Before the
plane arrived some time was used for a general cleaning of the main dome. |
| Science |
| The shallow drill on the surface was freed from snow. The logger was
set up and testet, so everything should be ready for logging tomorrow. |
| Logistics |
Before the flight the last boxes and pallets were finished. The boxes
containing ice core and samples are kept in the trench at about -20C until
short before the plane arrives. As many boxes weigh between 80 and 100
kg bringing them to the surface is always hard work, even with the elevator.
The skiway flags were checked in the morning. Part of the flag poles
is wrapped in aluminium foil, as this makes them visible on the radar system
of the planes.
The C130 landed as planned. Also take-off was very easy this time,
the plane took off in the first attempt, without rockets. |
Wednesday, July 18th
|
| Daily life |
| An igloo is being build in camp. Building an igloo is not extremely
easy and it takes time .... |
| Science |
| Today the bore hole was finally logged, although it took 3 attempts.
The 2 first attempts failed due to shortcuts, but the third attempt succeeded,
and the temperature and inclination in the bore hole was measured. A strong
temperature anomaly at the bottom of the bore hole was detected. |
| Logistics |
All the new cargo had to be stored in camp. Fuel drums were moved to
a "fuel line" marked by flags, so it can easily be identified after strong
snow blowing or snow storms. Food is either stored in the "fridge", a tent
which is kept above 0C, or in the freezer, a big snow cave.
The skiway needed grooming again after yesterdays mission. |
Thursday, July 19th
|
| Daily life |
| Work on the igloo continues. Is it for the next saturday party ??? |
| Science |
| The data from yesterdays logging have been processed, and further drilling
is being prepared. The data show that the temperature in the lowermost
4 m's of the bore hole is much higher than expected. Moreover, in spite
of pressure equilibrium at the bottom there seems to be some closure at
the bottom. The inclination at the bottom is 2.5 degrees, which is rather
good for a 3 km deep bore hole. |
| Logistics |
| There have been problems with the Inmarsat satellite connection. They
were solved by reinstalling the software. |
Friday, July 20th
|
| Daily life |
| During the past days the weather has been nice with temperatures up
to -11C. The nice weather continued today, and so did the work on the igloo. |
| Science |
| After the surprising and somewhat worrying results of the past days
the bore hole was logged again today. This time the temperature sensor
was placed in front of a 2m long aluminium tube and the logging stopped
for several hours before measuring, in order to prevent circulation in
the drill liquid. The results of this measurement much resembled the earlier
results, except that the logger didn't get all the way to the bottom of
the hole as it hit an ice bridge 4m's above the bottom. |
| Logistics |
| Two things have to be done almost daily on the ice. One is moving snow
and the other is grooming of the skiway. Today snow was removed from the
utility dome, and the skiway was "zig-zag" groomed in order to eliminate
old bumps. |
Saturday, July 21st
|
| Daily life |
| It is saturday, so work stops at 4 p.m., and the saturday dinner begins
at 7 p.m. |
| Science |
| The new drill electronics has been modified a little, and a valve in
the bailer was repaired. |
| Logistics |
| The night between friday and saturday the safety relays for the main
dome and the drill trnech shut off. This was most likely caused by the
glycol freezer and the water pump for the main snow melter. After disconnecting
the freezer the water pump could be started again. |
|
Sunday, July 22nd
|
| Daily life |
|
| Science |
The continuation of the drilling is prepared. The drill has been modified
a little in that a pump has been installed. This pump will facilitate the
removal of ice chips and slush. Moreover a new electronic section was mounted
on the drill. This section will later on be used in Antarctica and it is
currently tested at NGRIP.
In order prevent closure at the bottom densifier was added to the drill
liquid in the bore hole. |
| Logistics |
| Another day of moving snow. Today the entrance to the cooks freezer
had to be cleared. The weather is however really nice, so hopefully there
won't be a lot of blowing snow in the coming days. |
Continue to Week 30
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