Some anxious moments – with a good outcome

Dorthe (in the tent) is logging the NEEM 2538 m deep hole which is in the blue piece of pipe next to the bamboo flag.

Tests of the repaired logger winch yesterday showed that it was o.k.

Today Dorthe proceeded to do the deep borehole logging. She lowers a probe down the hole which transmits data through the cable to the surface. The measurements consist of highly precise temperature measurements, borehole diameter, borehole inclination and azimuth and pressure in the borehole fluid. These measurements began this morning and will continue until midnight.

Cook duties were covered by J.P. for lunch and Nanna for dinner.

We could not steer one of the Flexmobils; but fortunately the problem was located to a hydraulic valve, which was replaced. It now drives nicely.

A team of six removed and packed the remaining parts of the carpenters garage.

A new point has been added to our daily report: A short status of our colleagues in the SE on the Renland ice cap. They do not have access to the internet, so Bo Vinther and I agreed, that we will add a short point on status at the RECAP site.

What we have done today:

1.    Repaired the steering problem on the Flexmobil, and fixed a small problem
       on PB no.1.
2.    Logging of the NEEM deep hole is in progress.
3.    The GPS team visits strain net sites.
4.    Carpenters garage is taken down.
5.    Placing fuel depot (8 drums) for PARCA twin Otter (150 m from the PARCA
       weather station).
6.    German surface snow sampling.
7.    Contact with our colleagues on the Renland Ice cap at 19 local (21 Renland
       time).

Ad.7: Bo Vinther reported that all members of the Renland team are well, and that all tents (including kitchen weatherport and drill tent) are now up. Tomorrow they will build the freezer to keep ice cores extra cold as springtime advances. The Penn. State group is about to begin shallow drilling and firn air sampling. Weather is fine and forecast for tomorrow is good.

Weather: Mostly thin, broken cloud cover, later clearing. Temp. – 19°C to -28°C, 2-4 m/s from SE. Visibility: In the morning 1-3 km, later unrestricted. Few light snow showers and slight fog in the morning.

FL, J.P. Steffensen

Former site of the carpenters garage.