Is the weather always good at NEEM?

A skilled skier skating on the hard skiway at NEEM.

We have had good weather with blue sky and low winds since the last crew exchange, which was on July 9. We are really getting spoilt and we hope the weather will continue next week when we have the next flight period. The good weather encourages all to go for a walk, to go skiing or to visit the sofa at the end of the skiway in the evening. Looking at the skiway from the windows of the office is like looking at the Riviera promenade.

What we have done today:

1. Drilling with the NEEM long drill: 15.54 m. Driller's depth: 1329.07 m.
2. Logging 18.18 m of core. Logging depth 1345.30 m.
3. CFA analysis: 20.90 m. Depth: 521.40 m.
4. Processing 23.1 m. Processing depth: 1312.85 m (bag 2387).
5. Shallow drilling at the air-firn village. Present depth: 76 m. Air-sampling has been done at the depth 76 m.
6. Shallow drilling at the second site, NEEM2009S1. Depth: 96 m.
7. Localizing the Laki eruption in the ice core from the firn-air site (NEEM2009S2) by ECM measurements. Depth: 70.5 m.

Ad 1: Driller’s Report July 24, 2009:
“Since leaving the brittle ice stable drilling has been elusive. We are able to get 3.5 meters ice cores but in a mode that rides at the current limit regardless of which cutting pitch we attempt. Low RPM’s at the current limit seems to reduce the effectiveness of the pump for chip transport. Now and then drilling drops into a good mode for a portion of a run but this mode is hard to maintain. Drilling seems best now with a slight negative cutter load which is different than we have experienced previously this season. New cutters have made no difference in the efficiency of drilling over the last two days. Despite all of this, quality ice is being produced, but at a slower rate at the moment while we seek a good mode. In the meantime we are making a new pump ready as we seem to have exhausted our tuning of the drill head.”

Weather: The fog lifted in the early morning hours and we had blue sky all day. Night temperatures between Thursday and Friday down to -10°C and Friday to Saturday down to -15°C. Day temperatures up to 0°C. Low wind 3-8 kn from S. Pressure slowly increasing from noon.

FL, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen

A not as skilled skier taking a rest on the skiway.