Flight logistics

The falcon is still at NEEM. Here a falcon watcher.

Today we had a successful flight mission and exchange of personnel. The plane, Skier 92, had some delay due to a thick fog in Sønderstrømfjord (SFJ), but it finally took off at 10 am and arrived at NEEM shortly after noon. The skier brought in 14 passengers, drill liquid and a shallow drill that will be used to drill shorter cores.

The skier should leave with 19 passengers and was loaded with ice core boxes and cargo. Because of the bad weather conditions in SFJ the plane was scheduled to go back to SFJ via Thule. However, an updated weather forecast showed that weather had also turned bad in Thule. Now the situation became complicated because the plane did not have enough fuel to go to more distant airports and we could not fuel the plane in camp. While this was sorted out camp had 60 persons for lunch that were well catered by several experienced cooks and dishwashers. The solution was to redirect the plane to the Summit camp in Central Greenland, which had good weather and a fuel deposit and stay there until weather improved in SFJ.
By 21 pm the Skier was back in SFJ and the ice core boxes were safely stored in a freezer.

What we have done today:
1. Drilling and core logging. Driller's depth: 2303.08 m. Logger's depth: 2322.16 m.
2. No ice core processing today.
3. CFA measurements. 19.8 m. Final depth: 1898.05 m.
4. Receiving Skier 92.

Weather: Clear blue sky, wind 4-10 kt from ESE, temperatures -16 °C to -8 °C.

Assisting FL, Anders Svensson