Date: November 24, 2006
Location: Taylor Dome
Latitude: 77 degrees, 47 minutes South
Longitude: 158 degrees, 43 minutes East
Temperature: −15°C (−5°F)
Wind Speed: 5 knots
Wind Chill: −21°C (−8°F)
Elevation: 2,365 meters (7,759 feet)
Meters of core collected: 22
Written by: Joe
Today we finally had a break in the weather and were able to start the ice core drilling. The process started out a little slow as Mike, Andrei, Lora, and I have never worked together but after a few meters of core came up and went through the process we started to fall into a nice rhythm. Mike is in charge of running the Eclipse Ice Drill, which is a Canadian made piece of equipment that drills a 3 inch diameter ice core one meter at a time. Andrei assists Mike and Lora and I are responsible for the core processing. The processing of the core involves taking measurements of core diameter, length, and weight then packing it into tubular shaped plastic bags, which are then placed into a protective cardboard tube. Once packaged, the core tubes are placed in insulated boxes to keep them cold during their transport back to the states. Our drill site is 12.2 km away from camp so we have set up a “satellite camp” in case of emergency. We have a shelter (a Scott tent), extra food rations, and sleeping bags. At lunch time the tent is great to crawl into and warm up a bit and enjoy a great picnic lunch prepared by Cathy. Andrei can’t stop talking about how he loves coming out to the drill site because he knows he is going to get a great sandwich. By the end of our day we had collected 22m of core so we are off to a great start!
Date: November 26, 2006
Location: Taylor Dome
Latitude: 77 degrees, 47 minutes South
Longitude: 158 degrees, 43 minutes East
Temperature: −16°C ( 3 °F)
Wind Speed: 5 knots
Wind Chill: −22°C (−8°F)
Elevation: 2,365 meters (7,759 feet)
Meters of core collected: 76
Written by: Lora
Spring is still springing
Another beautiful day at Taylor Dome and we sure are happy about it. It is our third day drilling the ice core. We ended the day with 76 meters. We estimate the ice at this depth is about 700 years old. The coring is going well and we hope to finish tomorrow.
We drilled a bit longer tonight because our ride was late in arriving. At first we were a little annoyed and cold but then we saw the pisten bully on the horizon. It was moving really slowing. We soon realized that it was towing Brian and his radar sled. It was exciting that Brian got his radar up and running, he has been working on it for many days.
We had a slow ride back to camp, when the radar is on we can only go about 6 miles per hour. At camp we noticed a new building had been added to our outhouse sled. Greg, the carpenter, built us an incredible shower. We have a camp shower bag and can now take showers. This was a welcome addition to our traverse. No one wanted to go 3 months without a shower. Tomorrow, when I write again, I will be much cleaner.
Date: November 27, 2006
Location: Taylor Dome
Latitude: 77 degrees, 47 minutes South
Longitude: 158 degrees, 43 minutes East
Temperature: −24°C ( −11 °F)
Wind Speed: 5 knots
Wind Chill: −32°C (−25°F)
Elevation: 2,365 meters (7,759 feet)
Meters of core collected: 100
Written by: Lora
Today we finished drilling the ice core at 100 meters. It was a long day but the weather was nice. When the core was finished we packed up the drill camp. This took about 2 hours, and then we drove the final commute back to camp in the Pisten Bully. The atmosphere in camp was jubilant but tired. Brian was working on his radar, he was not happy with the data from yesterday. Cathy has been sorting through food boxes and getting meal menus ready. Josh is still driving us to and from the drill site and keeping all the machines running. Unfortunately, Paul our tractor mechanic, has been a little under the weather and has been resting.