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2007

Date: December 7, 2007
Location: East Antarctic Plateau, Drill Site 3
Latitude: 85 degrees, 46 minutes, 54.8004 seconds South
Longitude: 145 degrees, 43 minutes, 10.1424 seconds East
Temperature: −33°C ( −27°F)
Wind Speed: 14 knots
Wind Chill: −48°C (−55°F)
Elevation: 2867 meters (9406 feet)
Kilometers Traveled: 746
Ice Core Drilled: 220 meters
Written by: Nicky

Today the wind is no more forgiving than yesterday and yet the show goes on.  Brian and Josh head out with the PB and the radar sled to conduct a deep radar survey.  Their drive is perpendicular to the sastrugi field, so in order to keep them from being thoroughly jostled, the highest speed possible is 5km per hour.  They drive 20km out, quite a feat considering the conditions!  Can you imagine driving over 20km of almost continuous speed bumps?  Their survey reveals that 1km from camp the ice thickens considerably and also that (surprise, surprise) it’s very flat out here (apart from the speed bumps!).  Over 20km, the elevation changes only 20m.  Brian jokes that he’s lucky the sled didn’t detach, otherwise he might have slid all the way back to camp.

Gordon and Dan B. drill their hole deeper and deploy the down-hole logger a second time.  The upside to drilling all of yesterdays test holes is that they are able to use them today to melt the EMT poles into!  Tomorrow their site survey will be conducted.  Drilling with the 3” begins well and by lunch 30 meters depth has been reached.  However, shortly after lunch the drill begins to malfunction.  It goes down to the bottom of the hole, but it doesn’t come back up!  Mike and Dan D. spend the rest of the day fixing it with the help of Paul, Luke, and Josh.  By dinner time the 3” drill has been raised and is ready to continue drilling.

All the day’s maladies are erased at dinner.  Luci made pork roast with stuffing and gravy.  With a full belly and another day of drilling ahead, how could one not be happy?

 

Date: December 8, 2007
Location: East Antarctic Plateau, Drill site 3
Latitude: 85 degrees, 46 minutes, 54.8004 seconds South
Longitude: 145 degrees, 43 minutes, 10.1424 seconds East
Temperature: −31°C ( −24°F)
Wind Speed: 26 knots
Wind Chill: −50°C (−58°F)
Elevation: 2867 meters (9406 feet)
Kilometers Traveled: 746
Ice Core Drilled: 247 meters
Written by: Nicky

We awoke this morning to a storm with limited visibility, thanks to all the snow the 20 knot winds were blowing around. Gordon and Dan B. were preparing to conduct thier survey of the local topography with the PB, but safety dictated that they stay in camp. We placed a call to the forecasters at MacWeather and learned that these 20 knot winds were expected to more than double in the coming days and that we shouldn’t expect the storm to abate until Tuesday.

 

Date: December 9, 2007
Location: East Antarctic Plateau, Drill site 3
Latitude: 85 degrees, 46 minutes, 54.8004 seconds South
Longitude: 145 degrees, 43 minutes, 10.1424 seconds East
Temperature: −34°C ( −30°F)
Wind Speed: 32 knots
Wind Chill: −56°C (−69°F)
Elevation: 2867 meters (9406 feet)
Kilometers Traveled: 746
Ice Core Drilled: 247 meters
Written by: Nicky

As forecast, the storm worsened today. At times the drill site isn’t even visible. The day is spent indoors watching movies, sharing meals, taking naps, and maybe, just maybe doing a little data processing.