Empty drums

Jørn moving empty drums from the roof of the drill trench.

A deep borehole through the ice needs to be filled with drill liquid to avoid the borehole to close due to ice flow. At NEEM we use a mixture of ESTISOL 240 (coconut oil extract) and COASOL.  This liquid is non-hazardous and  has a low environmental impact. The empty drums are packed on pallets and returned to Kangerlussuaq.

What we have done today:

1.Drilling with the NEEM long drill: 24.00 m. Drillers depth: 1378.37 m
2. Logging 20.37 m of core. Logging depth 1387.99 m
3. CFA analysis: 9.35 m. Depth: 550.00 m. (bag 1000!)
4. Processing 6.6 m. Processing depth: 1355.75 m (bag 2465)
5. Shallow drilling at the second site NEEM2009S1. Depth 130 m
6. Finishing the research in the firn-village
7. Collecting cargo on pallets.

Ad 1: Drillers report 27 July: “We have had a good day drilling.  A clean borehole and hallow shaft are suspected for the improvement.  However, today we had one short run due to ice under one shoe, a very rare case. Density of the liquid at the bottom of the borehole is fine (measured 0.925 at -24°C). With increasing depth longer trip times are starting to be noticeable.  For the bottom quarter of the borehole descending speed is approximately 0.70 m/sec to allow safe passage through the viscous drilling liquid.  Inclination is 2.6, a step higher from yesterday.  All controllable elements on the drill for a plumb hole are in good shape.”

Weather: Sunny in the morning with overcast building up during the afternoon to full overcast in the evening. Wind picking up from noon to 18 kn at 18:00. Wind direction W. Temperatures -12 to -7°C.

FL, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen

Louise and Brandon preparing sushi for the whole camp. THANKS!