Daily reports from the NGRIP-camp - week 31, 2004
Monday, July 26
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| Daily life |
A day with overcast and periods with blue sky. Temperatures
from -6 to -18 deg C. Pressure 1003mb. Wind 11-13 kn.
An upcoming birthday tomorrow, the last evening in camp for many, and
celebration of bedrock were all good reasons for a special evening. After
a good dinner, pallets were finished and we went down into the Catheral
for some speeches and warm chokolade. Finally Peters birthday was celebrated
with cake in the main dome.
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| Science |
In order to reduce the bridges to be formed in the
borehole the hole was first filtered. The filter was only 20% full. Finally
a bailing run was made to remove ethanol from the bottom of the borehole.
Small amounts of ethanol was removed.
The drill tower was taken apart and brought to the surface. Small parts
were put on pallets and the long tower parts where considered as loose load.
All nuts and bolts will be collected and shipped out of camp on thursday.
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| Logistics |
All kinds of different items have been packed in
order to go out on the plane tomorrow.
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Tuesday, July 27
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| Daily life |
It has been a landmark day. The camp was a flurry
of activity to receive a Hercules plane in the morning. 7 persons left camp
and the very last 3 "new" NGRIPPERS arrived. As the weather was ideal: Sunny
and cold, the Hercules could take off with a full load of 7 tons from NGRIP.
The plane carried the deep drill tower and most of the drilling equipment
away to Kangerlussuaq. The drill tower has not seen the light of day in
8 years. Weather remained nice: Sunny, calm and temperatures between -10
and - 20 degrees C.
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| Science |
The people in camp are now packing the deep
ice core and the material from the base of the ice sheet into insulated boxes.
Work is in progress on reshaping the science trench to receive the planned
160 m surface shallow core. This core will cover the demand for further
ice core material from the last 1000 yearsof precipitation.
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| Logistics |
Immediately after the plane left, more equipment
was hauled up from the deep snow caves for shipment. Brute force and skill
was necessary to drag the 3 ton winch up to the surface.
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Wednesday, July 28
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| Daily life |
A fine day with calm and sunny weather. Temperatures
between -10 and -23 C. Work is centered around packing cargo for the next
plane. For 40 minuttes there was totally quiet in camp as the main generator
was switched off for the routine oil change.
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| Science |
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| Logistics |
Packing of drilling equipment is now complete. The
drill trench at NGRIP is now completely empty, a vere strange sight after
8 years of activity.
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Thursday, July 29
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| Daily life |
Again today there was a plane arriving at NGRIP.
The weather was collaborative: Cold, -23 C, and clear. Just before the plane
took off, fog came rolling in and people did not see the plane take off before
the saw it in the sky heading for Kangerlussuaq. Once again a good and heavy
load of 7 tons was carried away. On board was the 3 ton winch. Peter Iversen
has returned from a dentist visit in Nuuk.
|
| Science |
Several thins sections of the deep ice have been
prepared for the study of ice crystals in polarized light. Samples of the
deep ice and the refrozen basal water have been put into sealed steel containers
to capture the trapped gases in the ice.
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| Logistics |
The science trench is now ready to receive the planned
160 m core.
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Friday, July 30
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| Daily life |
Today people have relaxed after the demanding task
of packing and shipping the deep drilling equipment by working on a row of
small tasks.
|
| Science |
The drill for the 160 m drilling is now ready for
deployment.
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| Logistics |
There has been time to repair snowmobiles and ready
even more cargo for air transport. People have also started removing snow
from the roof of the drill trench. It is planned to remove parts of the roof
so that it will be possible to extend the top of the bore hole to a few meters
above the snow surface. This extension will be done by putting extra casing
pipes on top of the existing casing. When the extension is done, the area
around the bore hole will be back filled with snow. This way we ensure that
we will have access to the bore hole in the future with bore hole measurement
instruments. It is necessary to support the casing pipe with snow to avoid
damage to the casing from the slowly collapsing drill trench.
As the camp relaxes after this weeks flights, the people in Kangerlussuaq
are now busy receiving and packing cargo from camp. The cargo is divided into
two piles: Some cargo is sent to Copenhagen by ship and some is stored in
our ware house in Kangerlussuaq. Yesterday all cargo relating to the German
Polar 2 was sent to Europe.
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Saturday, July 31
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| Daily life |
A new drilling site has been established in the vicinity
of camp for drilling of the short (160m) core. As it is Saturday people used
the opportunity to arrange for a picnic at the site. Hot dogs and beer was
served. Dinner consisted of gin and tonic, marinated lamb, crepes with ice
cream and home made Greenlandic blue berry jam (blue berries from Kangerlussuaq,
since blue berries hardly grow at NGRIP).
|
| Science |
A hand augered top firn core was drilled to 2.5 m
and a 2.2 m pit was made, these were sampled for chemistry and isotopes.
The drilling will take place from the bottom of the pit.
|
| Logistics |
The mounting of casing tube extensions on the deep
hole is in progress. And a roof extension to the cooks freezer has been made,
so that future visitors may enjoy the frozen food stored here.
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Sunday, July 32
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| Daily life |
Today the 160 m drilling started. Weather was not
nice. It snowed. At times it snowed so much that visibility went down to
100 m. Everything was white.
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| Science |
8 m of core was drilled.
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| Logistics |
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Continue to Week 33
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