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Daily reports from the NGRIP-camp - week 23, 2003
Monday, June 2nd |
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| Daily life |
| Science |
| On this years second run with the drill on sunday evening
the inner corebarrel
disengaged and the drill came up empty except for refrozen slush in the chip
chamber. This happens, and three attempts have been made sofar to recover
the lost parts. The French pit study has been completed, and tables and saws have been moved from the old drill trench, which can not be used anylonger due to compression. |
| Logistics |
| The next flight is scheduled for tomorrow, and the skiway
was run over one more time and the outgoing cargo has been palleted. |
Tuesday, June 3rd |
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| Daily life |
| Today the camp received a plane, and several people left
the camp and new came in. Some people have only been involved in shorter
side projects, which are already finished. The next flight will be in three
weeks. Just today it was quite warm, which means that the snow gets a bit sticky and the C130 ony got airborn after several attempts. The new people were installed in camp, and cargo was unpacked. |
| Science |
| One (unsuccessful) attempt was made to recover the inner
core barrel. |
| Logistics |
Wednesday, June 4th |
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| Daily life |
| Cleaning-up day. The main dome and the camp area was cleaned. |
| Science |
| A shallow drilling is prepared. Shallow cores are used for
studying surface processes, doing special studies on shorter, recent times,
and to pro-long the NGRIP core. The drilling was started in 1996, so in
order to extent the core over the most recent years a shallow core has to
be drilled nearby. Two new attempts were made to recover the lost part of the drill. Yesterday it turned out that the "fishing" will not be very easy. A modified coupling tool has been manufactured and it was tested this afternoon. After the test the conclusion was that the tool never reached the core barrel. This evening the tool went through an apparent ice bridge and dropped 1 to 1.5 m still the tool came up empty. A little frustrating. |
| Logistics |
| The small "Iller" vehicle has been repaired, and more snow
was moved away from the entrance to the main dome. The skiway was groomed
once more, the many take-off attempts were probably hard on the surface. |
Thursday, June 5th |
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| Daily life |
| Beautiful sunny warm weather. Several people have been skiing
today. |
| Science |
| Two more "fishing" attempts were made, but it turned out,
that even more ice bridge are blocking. Tomorrow the shorter Hans Tausen drill
will be used to to penetrate the ice bridges and collect slush. |
| Logistics |
| The main dome is still being cleaned, and the new cook is
arranging the new supplies. The flags along the skiway are being raised. |
Friday, June 6st |
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| Daily life |
| Still beautiful sunny weather. Up to -7°C during daytime,
and barely any wind. |
| Science |
| Two drilling runs with the shorter drill were performed in
order to free the way down to the lost core barrel. The second time signs
were found that the drill had been in contact with the core barrel. One fishing
attempt was made, but without success. The shallow drilling is at 22m depth. |
| Logistics |
| As usual several things have to be done: the flags along
the skiway have now all been raised, more snow has been moved away from the
main dome, food supplies are being arranged, and different vehicels repaired. |
Saturday, June 7th |
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| Daily life |
| A little windy in the morning, but otherwise another beautiful
day. |
| Science |
| Finally the drill came up! After another drilling with the
short drill the lost core barrel came up. This is something to celebrate saturday
evening! The shallow drilling is at 38.4m depth. The ECM measurement is being set up. This allows the measure the electric conductivity of the ice, which indicates warm and cold climatic conditions. When this is in place the first processing of the new cores will begin. |
| Logistics |
| More snow has been moved away from the main dome, and snow
in the camp has been groomed. |
Sunday, June 8th |
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| Daily life |
| Still beautiful weather and barely any wind. |
| Science |
| The deep drilling has resumed. The drill went down twice,
and beside a lot of slush and ice chips it brought up a 19 cm core. The shallow drilling is now at 56 m depth, and the science trench where the cores will be measured, cut into samples,and packed is now ready for the first cores. |
| Logistics |
| The new fuel drums have been taken from the pallets and arranged
on a "fuel line" on the surface. |
Continue to Week 24
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