Field diaries

NEEM is closed and we are out

11 August 2012

It has been a dramatic day. The plane was scheduled to arrive at NEEM at 1045; but due to technical issues the departure from Kangerlussuaq was delayed.

Final day of packing. Tomorrow we fly out – hopefully

10 August 2012

It has been an unusual day. Outside, a group cleaned the camp area and packed the last items. Inside the dome, a group was busy cleaning the kitchen and the first floor.

Sunshine and suntan

9 August 2012

It has been a wonderful day. It was nice and cold with lots of sunshine.

Blizzard has passed – back to work

8 August 2012

Luckily this was not a multi-day blizzard. When we began to work weather was fine again, and nice cold for a change.

Camp is shrinking

7 August 2012

NEEM camp is condensing, and today a big task is completed.

Temperatures took a welcome step down

6 August 2012

We were about to become tired of walking about in slush in the gloom of
dense overcast ...

A rainy day at NEEM

5 August 2012

Today it rained at Noon. Most of the day temperatures have been over 0°C.

Last Saturday celebration at NEEM

4 August 2012

We celebrated the last Saturday evening at NEEM with a new heat wave arriving.

Preparing to close the science trench

3 August 2012

The drill trench is not anymore. And we are preparing to close the science trench.

Packing continues - this time in sunshine

2 August 2012

Packing down camp equipment onto heavy sleds has its own rhythm.

NEEM camp is changing

1 August 2012

Today we finished packing all drilling equipment onto a heavy sled, and the area around the former drill trench is now clear of cargo.

Yet another meltlayer has formed in 20 cm depth

31 July 2012

As testimony to the unusual warm weather since mid-July, another layer of
refrozen water has formed in the past three days.

Wet games

30 July 2012

The ice block throwing competition was postponed, because the blocks were melting!

NEEM icelympic games are on

29 July 2012

None of us here at NEEM can follow the Olympic games,so we have created NEEM icelympic games.

A rainy and windy Saturday

28 July 2012

We woke in the morning to the patter of raindrops on tents and on the dome.

NEEM gets hit by another heat wave

27 July 2012

As forecasted NEEM today was hit by another heat wave.

A gloomy day became nice

26 July 2012

All afternoon we were digging and chopping ice.

The “drill trench” is now just a hole in the ground

25 July 2012

On this gray and snowy day we removed the last infrastructure from the
drill trench.

We got an extra plane today

24 July 2012

As the 109th needed another training mission, Skier 32 paid us a visit at
Noon. We were told about this the day before

Last scheduled plane in this period

23 July 2012

The packing down in the drill trench goes fast. Sunday until late and
Monday morning everybody was busy.

Goodbye to the winch

22 July 2012

The winch is too heavy for the cat to lift into the Skier so the skiers need to winch the pallet into the aircraft.

The winch is moved out of the drill trench

21 July 2012

The heavy winch has to be pulled out of the drill trench by the inclined
ramp that has been opened.

The final cut

20 July 2012

Today Paul, Helle, Rune, Alejandra and Allan left us – we will miss you.

The final ice core

19 July 2012

The termination of the NEEM deep drilling after 6 years is a big event.

A very interesting day

18 July 2012

With the drillers, loggers and seismic teams the camp is running full speed.

Fly Day

17 July 2012

Finally we have had a cold night and the snow surface is hard again.

Barbeque in the Blue

16 July 2012

Today a day with temperatures below zero, sunshine and no wind.

Same story again…

15 July 2012

News?? Observing pit, moving ice blocks, removing ice from drill. All reported the last days.

Waiting for cold weather

14 July 2012

The unusual warm weather continues and it is clear that we will need to wait until the surface cools.

Friday the 13th – not a good flight day!

13 July 2012

If you are superstitious don’t fly Friday 13th ….

Even warmer!

12 July 2012

Going into the third day with + temperatures.

Rainy day

11 July 2012

We woke up to a totally overcast day with rain!

Tropical NEEM

10 July 2012

At 06:00 in the morning the weather was -10 °C and the preparations for departure of Polar 6 started.

Receiving NEGIS and Polar 6

9 July 2012

The morning was used finishing the snow blowing of the ramp to the drill trench and removing the snow blocks from the ramp.

Happy Camp

8 July 2012

After a brunch with omelettes and pancakes the day started gently.

NEEM Drive-In Cinema features TRON

7 July 2012

Saturday evening – the long waited fun time of the week. For the first (and probably only time) NEEM opened the skidoo Drive-In Cinema.

The mysterious eighth camp member

6 July 2012

The mysterious eighth camp member Motohiro has been absent from the
pictures the last days and today he will be featured in the NEEM Diary.

Paul’s Birthday

5 July 2012

One more day preparing the camp to be packed. All in camp (except Sarah who produced food miracles) united forces to empty and free the Carpenters Garage.

4th of July

4 July 2012

Today was 4th of July, so we planned an American meal with barbequed chicken, potato salad and blueberry pie.

Busy and wonderful day

3 July 2012

Not much news to tell because the packing just goes on.

Packing NEEM

2 July 2012

Again a very nice and sunny day with low winds and we decided it was the day to take the sauna garage down.

Sunny Sunday

1 July 2012

Sunday morning is always peaceful and the sunny weather made it reall nice.

Our first Saturday at NEEM

30 June 2012

The day to dig the 2m deep pit has come and Paul, Helle, Motohiro, Alejandra and Rune finds a spot on the line of the clean area 2 km from camp.

Outdoor day

29 June 2012

Again a wonderfully warm and sunny day. We settled on small tasks today and all were busy in camp.

Red Dome packed

28 June 2012

The low winds made this a perfect day for outdoor work and we decided to take the red dome down.

Big change in camp

27 June 2012

Skier 95 arrived to camp at 10:15 with 6 new NEEM’ers and picked up 11.

Water under the ice

26 June 2012

It appears that the deepest part of the borehole is filling up with water that freezes in.

A final day of high winds?

25 June 2012

After another day of blowing snow, high winds, complete overcast, and high temperatures the skiway is not in a good condition to receive an airplane.

A large stone in the borehole

24 June 2012

Today Steff and Trevor went down with the rock drill to investigate if ice
has formed in the deepest part of the borehole. .

Preparing for Monday storm and Tuesday flight mission

23 June 2012

The weather forecast predicts stormy conditions for Monday, just before the flight mission scheduled for Tuesday..

Preparing for Tuesday flight mission

22 June 2012

The weather is still collaborative and we’ve spend the day preparing for the flight scheduled for next Tuesday.

The Sun reappeared!

21 June 2012

Hurrah, after a week of overcast we saw the Sun today!

‘Any improvement is temporarily’

20 June 2012

It is now definitely summer time at NEEM with today’s temperature reaching a maximum of -1.1°C.

Pebbles from below

19 June 2012

We had high winds all day and could not do much outdoor work. .

More snow, more wind, and more snow drifting

18 June 2012

The day started out with overcast and snow showers, but winds were low, so we optimistically started blowing the ramps free of snow.

A calm day - good for moving stuff

17 June 2012

Today the high winds had disappeared and we could inspect the new dunes of freshly deposited drift snow all around camp.

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Stormy weather

16 June 2012

Today we had storm with average wind speed around 30 knots (16 m/s) occasionally rising to 35 knots.

Marathon drilling and trench dismantling

15 June 2012

Windy conditions with snow, drifting, and white-out did not permit much surface work to be carried out today. .

Waving goodbye to Polar 6

14 June 2012

This morning we said goodbye to the Polar 6 DC-3, its friendly crew, our Euronews visitors, and our AWI colleagues..

Establishing the North East Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) camp

13 June 2012

A final Polar 6 shuttle brought four scientists to the remote NEGIS site some 400 km SE of NEEM...

Crew exchange, DV visit, and sediment cores

12 June 2012

Today we received a C-130 from Sønderstrømfjord (SFJ) that brought us new camp personnel plus a large group of interested Distinguished Visitors. .

Put-in of the NEGIS camp begins

11 June 2012

This year NEEM camp is also a staging station for a remote camp on the North East Greenland Ice Stream. .

Water rationing day

10 June 2012

Early Sunday morning we discovered that the ladies urinal was leaking water...

Saturday in very nice weather

9 June 2012

Although people stop working earlier than normal, a lot was accomplished today.

We have got basal material

8 June 2012

One day after her arrival, Christine is already happy to have obtained a series of samples central to her research.

Finally the LC-130 came

7 June 2012

Waiting for good weather conditions pays off. Today we had a very successful mission...

We prepare for the arrival of an LC-130 tomorrow

6 June 2012

Lou spent the entire day today driving the Pistenbully up and down the skiway to till in the new snow in preparation of the plane tomorrow.

LC-130 flight cancelled and Basler flight cancelled

5 June 2012

Today weather turned bad. It has been cloudy with snow most of the time.

To fly or not to fly

4 June 2012

It looks as if the good weather is coming to an end.

A busy and successful Sunday

3 June 2012

Most people in camp were up and about at 8.00.

A little unusual Saturday

2 June 2012

Simon and Trevor had originally signed up as cooks for the Saturday evening dinner; but as plans have changed

A day with changes of plans

1 June 2012

Polar 6 arrived this afternoon in splendid sunshine. On the way here, it picked up detonators for seismic studies in NEGIS camp...

A gloomy day with a gloomy technical fault

31 May 2012

Well, actually the bad weather returned with thick clouds, snow and blowing snow. We had to cancel a planned flight of Polar 6.

36 hours of bad weather over

30 May 2012

We cannot believe our luck. A big change in weather as we experienced yesterday is normally associated with high winds and severe snow drift

Adverse weather

29 May 2012

Summer has arrived to NEEM, bringing clouds, snow and very high temperatures.

Big changes today

28 May 2012

Weather changed today. While the day began almost as usual, the weather
changed rapidly in the afternoon.

Sunday activities

27 May 2012

After a good party Saturday night, activities in camp began with the departure of Polar 6 on a radar mission.

It is Saturday and we have a full house for dinner

26 May 2012

Although it is Saturday, there is a lot of activity in camp and in the air space over the North Greenland ice sheet.

Work in camp on track and aeroplane operations on track

25 May 2012

The fine weather continues to help us a lot.

17 for lunch and 27 for supper

24 May 2012

An interesting routine is developing. In the morning we send off two
aircraft

Welcome to NEEM airport

23 May 2012

It has been a very busy and successful day.

Tomorrow NEEM will turn into an airport

22 May 2012

Today we were notified that three aeroplanes intend to fly to NEEM tomorrow.

We got one more day before next flight

21 May 2012

Work progresses in a fine pace; but still everybody in camp is happy of getting an extra day for preparation before the flights.

Preparations for flights and more crew in full swing

20 May 2012

Most efforts in camp are now centered on preparing camp for a large number of people arriving Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

Saturday night

19 May 2012

It is Saturday, and this means that people get a shower and dress up for Saturday night dinner.

Camp opening is well under way

18 May 2012

The day began with good byes.  

NEEM camp now fully operational

17 May 2012

Today the last small problems were solved, and the camp is now fully operational. 

Day two at NEEM

16 May 2012

 Most things went fine on this beautiful second day at NEEM.  

First group arrives at NEEM on schedule

15 May 2012

This year the put-in happened on schedule. 

Put-in crew arrives in Kangelussuaq

14 May 2012

NEEM field season 2012

10 May 2012