Snow, drift, and long ice cores

A 3.2 m long ice core from almost 2450 m depth is ready to be logged by Maggan. Such long cores of the warm ice at this depth are almost more than we can ask for.

Today camp woke up to more windy conditions than we’ve had for several weeks. It was snowing and as the wind picked up we got some snow drift as well. Temperatures became close to the melting point and we had melting at black surfaces and dripping inside the dome. Because most camp activities take place indoor or in the trenches, we can easily cope with a little snow storm for the moment. Next week is a different story, as several flight missions are planned and we need a well-prepared skiway.

There was very good news from the drill trench this afternoon: Three more than 3 m long ice cores were drilled in a row. The reason for this great improvement in core length was the mounting of a set of special knives, ‘step cutters’, on the drill head, and, of course, our very experienced crew of drillers. This is most encouraging and we knock on wood that this very productive mode will last.

Drilling: 7.31 m (by 7pm), drillers depth: 2428.26 m
Logging: 6.52 m, loggers depth: 2444.25 m
Processing: bag 1489-1527 (21.45 m) 818.40 m
CFA: bag 3858-3897 (22.00 m), CFA depth 2143.35 m

What we have done today:
1. Drilling and core logging ice.
2. Processed Holocene brittle ice cores.
3. CFA measurements.
4. Emptying and collecting ice core boxes for science trench.
5. Closing holes in tents to avoid indoor drifting.

Weather: A windy day with clouds and snow. The wind has picked up during the day and is at 22 knots in the evening, occasionally up to 27 knots; the direction has turned from SE to SW. The new snow is drifting. Temperatures have been high ranging from -10°C  to -3°C .

FL’s Dorthe Dahl-Jensen and Anders Svensson

  The Swiss ‘step cutters’ that were modified by Steff in camp can
  do the job of drilling the warm ice.