Saturday night
Trevor demonstrates how small the doorway to the ice core storage has become. This doorway was built two years ago to full size, and snow deformation has minimized it
It is Saturday, and this means that people get a shower and dress up for Saturday night dinner.
Because weather has been behaving so nicely, we had time to take the evening off. We enjoyed both lunch and dinner prepared by Sarah: For lunch eggs Benedict and for dinner Steaks, corn and potatoes.
During the day people got a lot of work done, and we are on schedule.
Simon and Carsten finished assembling the Danish intermediate drill system and made the first runs. If this drill test is successful, we will have a system capable of drilling to 1000 m depth and which weighs less than 500 kg total.
In ice core drilling, people work with shallow drills (to 200 m depth, often in dry holes), intermediate depth drills (to 1000 m depth, mostly in fluid filled holes) and deep drills (through the thickest ice sheets, up to 3.5 km, always fluid filled). If the intermediate drill test goes well, the Copenhagen group will have all three systems available.
What we have done today:
1. Zig-zag groomed skiway with Pistenbully and active blade.
2. Drilled the first 3 m test core with the Danish drill in carpenters garage.
3. Finished heating and floor in food storage tent.
4. Erected white weatherport over trench entrance.
5. Cleaned up in cargo line and staged retro cargo.
6. Work on setting up water vapour sampling station.
Weather: Clear. Temp. - 18°C to - 27°C, 15-3 knots from SE and SSE.
Visibility: To horizon.
FL, J.P. Steffensen