North GReenland Icecore Project - Diary for week 27

Daily reports from the NGRIP-camp - week 27, 2003

Monday, June 30th
Daily life
The Kansas net cafe (via Iridium satellite telephone) is open daily from 20 to 22!
Science
Drilled 46 cm in first two runs of the day. In the third run a screw was lost. Fourth run was a fishing run, but with no luck. Tomorrow will begin with a fishing run. Processing line is opened. The team from Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhafen, Germany, has measured RES.
Logistics
We have encountered problems with the generator. The fuel filter is filled with a red substance, that first was thought to be an additive to the fuel. It turned out that it is de-icing liquid for use in airports and that it comes from the drums, that are recycled. It looks like it is separated out from the fuel , but the generator has to be stopped every 4 days to drain the filters.

Tuesday, July 1st
Daily life
Blue sky and very light wind from south.
Science
1.65 m of core has been drilled. Keep up the good work! 2.96 m of core has been processed and ECM has been measured. ECM (or electrical conductivity measurement) can tell whether the analyzed ice comes from a cold or a warm period.
Logistics
Vehicles is being repaired and the skiway is groomed.

Wednesday, July 2nd
Daily life
Weather is good with no wind, temperatures between -7 and -22 degrees.
Science
It seems like the drilling is finally getting into a more stable mode. 2.98 m's were drilled today, and we all cross our fingers! This is the record of the season. Drilling depth is now 3015.84 m. Before every run, a portion of EWS (Ethanol-Water Solution) is released at the bottom. This seems to solve many of the problems with the drilling, but also produces a fair amount of slush when the water separates from the ethanol and freezes. It looks like we have now found the right amount of EWS so that we get less problems without producing to much slush. We will try to see if this mode can be continued. 3.3 m ice core was processed. The ECM signal is decreasing, so we have not reached the Eemian (which would have a high signal).
Logistics

Thursday, July 3rd
Daily life
Blue sky in the morning, overcasting during the day, slight snow in the evening. Increasing wind speed and temperatures between -7 and -15 degrees.
Science
Drilling is much more fun when you get some decent cores. The day gave 5 cores with a total length of 5.13 meters, again improving the record of the season. The cores need a little heating before coming out of the core barrel. Processing goes slowly because great care is taken to clean the core from EWS, that potentially can corrupt the mass spectrometry measurements. ECM is still low, less than 0.1 and the crystal size in bag 5460 (depth 3003 m) vary between 1 and 10 cm with an average of 2.5 cm. The NorthGRIP shallow drill has been made ready for a 20 m firn core for the Kansas program.
Logistics

Friday, July 4th
Daily life
The radar team from Kansas has volunteered to make the Saturday night dinner, and preparations have started. The weather is rather warm (which is often the case when it is overcast), between -4 and -10 centigrade. The air pressure is very high : 1035 mbar.
Science
Once again, the record of the season has been improved : 6.12 m in 5 cores measuring 0.80 m, 1.32 m, 1.52 m, 1.08 m, and 1.40 m. With an estimated 30-80 meters to bedrock, this is really something ! This has raised the spirits of everybody in camp. ECM measurements has now been performed down to a depth of 3018 meter. There is still no sign of the Eemian ice. Crystal sizes are 3 cm in mean with single crystals up to 15 cm across. Drilling depth 3028.02 m. Processed depth 3018.40 m. The radar tests continue, and a pit has been dug so that the radar results can be compared with a detailed surface profile.
Logistics
The Caterpillar and the skidoos are being overhauled.

Saturday, July 5th
Daily life
The Kansas team cooked dinner with dishes from back home. It is traditional that field participants from a certain nation cooks Saturday night, which is the only time the cook has off. After the dinner there is music and dancing until the early morning.
Science
Saturday is rather short scientifically, so 3 cores totaling 3.93 m is a very satisfying result, even though that the record of the season was not again improved for the fourth day in a row. The length of the hole exceeded the length of the GRIP bore hole after the first run this morning, making the NorthGRIP bore hole the longest Danish bore hole in the world. In just little more than 20 meters, we will pass the GISP2 depth, and NorthGRIP will then be the longest ice core ever drilled in Greenland. The processing line cannot keep up with the drilling speed (a luxury problem, one could say ...) The ECM signal is rising slowly, but not to the Eemian level yet. It will be exciting to see the next days' measurements.
Logistics

Sunday, July 6th
Daily life
The Sunday started slowly as Sundays often do ... It has been a beautiful day with blue sky, almost no wind, and -5C during the day.
Science
At 9pm, where the daily report was sent from camp, 3 ice cores had been recovered, measuring 1.63 m, 1.27 m og 1.53 m. Before stopping for the night, a fourth run will be made. No measurements has been performed today (se below), so we still wait with excitement to see whether we have reached the Eemian.
Logistics
The trenches in which drilling, sampling, and measurements take place are made by putting a wooden roof on top of a pit made by snow blowers. With time, as the snow is compressed into ice, the height to the roof gradually decreases. Today, the floor in the science trench was "planed off" to improve working conditions in the trench, that had become rather low. Due to this, no measurements were performed today. The skiway is being zig-zag groomed with a Kaesbohrer to compact the snow, thus facilitating take-off and landing with higher pay-loads.

Continue to Week 28