Fine weather and the newcomers are settling in

Evening over the ice sheet.

We are many now, and for the three of us: Sverrir, Sarah and J.P. who are the only remaining from the put-in more than a month ago, it is interesting to see how camp changes character once again. The average age has dropped significantly with the arrival of a lot of young people. A lot of new energy has been added, and people have gone to their assigned tasks with enthusiasm. The science trench is now almost ready. We expect to begin systematic analysis and sampling in the weekend.

What we have done today:

1. Drilling with the NEEM long drill.
2. Logging. Last bag: 453. Depth: 249.15 m.
3. Laying floor and foundations for weatherport to cover staircase and elevator.
4. Groomed skiway to remove tracks from yesterday’s plane.
5. Repairing Flexmobil.
6. Maintenance and oil change on generator. The power in camp was switched off for 30 min.
7. Re-adjusted HF antenna.

Ad.1: This is how the drillers report looks today: “With increasing depth the chips are getting finer and more difficult to deal with. Drill configuration that was stable a few days ago is unstable and useless now. Our remedy is to increase the cutting depth (pitch) to produce more coarse grained chips. This was tried this morning by mounting the 6 mm (nominal) pitch shoes. When finally stable drilling emerged we could drill 2.8 m cores with max 4.4 mm pitch. The booster in the middle is again partly active and helps move chips into the upper half of the chips chamber. Sample of the liquid from the top of a drilled core is normal, 930 kg/m**3 at -28 deg C.
The final run of the day was, however, not very stable. Only the pump and the space below the pump ring were packed. Is it possible that the devious chips are being held back by that ring? Total drilling 9.35 m in 6 runs.
Drillers depth 236.24 m.”

Ad.5: Joern is working on his first assignment. One of our Flexmobiles developed an oil leak last year, and it has not been in operation since. Soon it will run again.

Weather: Fine most of the day, whit a brief and weak snow shower. -16 °C to -23 °C, 5-9 knots from S and ESE.
Visibility: Unrestricted.

FL, J.P. Steffensen

After supper in lounge. Find the person not sitting with a laptop.