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Date: 12/29/03
Latitude: 80.78 degrees South
Longitude: 124.49 degrees East
Temperature:−25°C(−13°F)
Wind speed: 27 knots
Wind Chill:−42°C(−44°F)
Wind direction: not given
Elevation: 9,600 feet
Kilometers traveled: 1450

Notes on daily life:
By Dan

Today the Megadunes camp almost reached completion. The crew continued grooming the skiway, built a fuel berm, constructed an elevated cargo line and put up a Scott tent for the camp outhouse.

This morning Tom and I went back out to the upwind drill site to drill the chemistry core. We spent the whole morning sectioning the upper few meters of core into little bags. The reason why we do this is because the upper few meters of core are extremely fragile and they would not survive the trip back to the U.S. without crumbling into icy dust. The sectioning process took us until lunchtime. After lunch we continued drilling core and by dinnertime we had reached a depth of 12.5m.
Dinner was provided by Tayloe and Drew in the newly erected Polar Haven dining tent. We ate boiled broccoli, chicken/tuna noodles and corn chowder delicious!

 

Date: 12/30/03
Latitude: 80.78 degrees South
Longitude: 124.49 degrees East
Temperature:−22°C(−8°F)
Wind speed: 25 knots
Wind Chill:−38°C(−36°F)
Wind direction: not given
Elevation: 9,600 feet
Kilometers traveled: 1450

Notes on daily life:
By Dan

Today is a day off for most of our crew; all the jobs around the new Megadunes camp are done (apart from the usual daily check&nash;in and weather observations). Tom and I are waiting to go out and drill but the weather has closed in and everyone has been instructed to stay close to the camp; either in the tents, the kitchen or the blue room. The wind and temperature are not quite as bad as yesterday but a thick cloud of moisture has settled over us, reducing visibility drastically. So for most of the day we just waited for the weather to clear. While we waited we read books and articles, played games, watched DVD’s or just caught up on some much&nash;needed rest.

By 20:30 the weather was beginning to clear up, so we all ate dinner and then Tom and I headed out to the upwind drill site with the intention of drilling and sampling through the night. We hope to be done by morning because Matt wants the trains to be ready to leave by noon.

 

Date: 12/31/03
Latitude: 81.65 degrees South
Longitude: 122.60 degrees East
Temperature:−22°C( 10°F)
Wind speed: 20 knots
Wind Chill:−12°C(−10°F)
Wind direction: not given
Elevation: 9,722 feet
Kilometers traveled: 1510

Notes on daily life:
By Dan

Tom and I stayed up through the night drilling and sampling. We ended up extending the 2&nash;inch ice core to a depth of 16.5m, drilling a 7.5m PICO hand auger ice core and sampling two 1m&nash;deep snowpits. Add these to the surface snow samples and the two 7m beta cores that we drilled previously and it makes Megadunes the most scientifically productive site so far… and don’t forget that our crew also built and groomed an LC&nash;130 skiway and constructed an entire deep field camp ready for two more science groups. Plus it was all done in the worst weather we have experienced so far.

By noon the trains were packed and ready to travel, I was so tired that I virtually passed out in my bunk. Time for bed (~10:30am), I am expecting to wake up in 2004 at TAMCAMP, perhaps I will have a shower to celebrate (if the shower tent is still standing!).

After being tossed around for 12 hours while semi&nash;conscious I finally awoke around 22:30 at TAMCAMP, just in time to see the New Year in. Andrea thoughtfully remembered to bring a bottle of bubbly so we all welcomed the New Year in with a BANG! (we were drinking out of plastic champagne glasses though).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!