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2007

Date: November 19, 2007
Location: East Antarctic Plateau, Drill site 1
Latitude: 81 degrees, 39 minutes, 29 seconds South
Longitude: 136 degrees, 5 minutes, 2.4 seconds East
Temperature: −33°C ( −27°F)
Wind Speed: 16 knots
Wind Chill: −49°C (−57°F)
Elevation: 2490 meters (8169 feet)
Kilometers Traveled: 232
Ice Core Drilled: 11 meters
Written by: Nicky

Our ten hours of stationary rest ends at 12PM and we all start our day with a hot meal. While eating, we have a group meeting of sorts in which we discuss how everyone feels about our strategy to date, what could be done better, and what the plan will be from here until the next drill site. We decided that it would be best for everyone if we just planned to do 16–20 hours of driving and then stop for 8–10 hours, get some more stationary sleep and have a hot meal before proceeding. After eating, a couple of things need to be put in order (turns out Brian fixed his radar problem last night before going to sleep!) and then we're off again.

The first 20 kilometers go well, but the next 30 seem to be a bit ill–fated and despite leaving at 1:30PM, we don't arrive at the fuel cache until 3:30AM on the 20th. The problems with this leg are many, Brian has more generator trouble and we stop several times to fix these problems. The Dozer CAT gets stuck (it eventually gets unstuck, but only after the Fork CAT unhooks from its train to come to its rescue and the PB has turned around to come to its aid as well) and has radio trouble. Our caravan gets a bit disorderly because of all the radar stops and we are advised that we must be more diligent in keeping the trains closer together. Brian's generator trouble gets so bad that he decides to just stop recording for now and come back with the PB during drilling to capture the last two waypoints (~20 km).

Finally, we arrive at the fuel cache and find that the whole area is covered in Bassler tracks. This means that we will lose the top 10cm or so of the ice core chemistry record because of contamination by exhaust fumes. This is written off as a small price to pay, the radar is processed to ensure that the stratigraphy in the area is good, the trains are parked in the order discussed at the morning meeting and finally we have arrived. Because itís late (or rather very early), tomorrow will mostly be spent recuperating and doing some set–up. On Wednesday we'll start drilling in earnest.

 

Date: November 20, 2007
Location: East Antarctic Plateau, Drill site 1
Latitude: 81 degrees, 39 minutes, 29 seconds South
Longitude: 136 degrees, 5 minutes, 2.4 seconds East
Temperature: −30°C ( −22°F)
Wind Speed: 12 knots
Wind Chill: −44°C (−47°F)
Elevation: 2490 meters (8169 feet)
Kilometers Traveled: 232
Ice Core Drilled: 11 meters
Written by: Nicky

Today, because we didn't arrive at the drill site until 3:30AM, we have another 12PM wake–up and hot meal. Our plan is to spend the day setting up the drill site in hopes of being able to get started in earnest tomorrow. Throughout the day the much needed windbreak (itís really blowing on the plateau these days!) is set up and both the 3" and 2" drill are dragged out to the core site and assembled. Mike and Paul will be operating the 3" with Dan D. and Elena processing the cores. Gordon and Dan B. will be operating the 2" drill. I will, with any luck, be using my light table to do stratigraphy on both the 2" and 3" cores. Because Iíve never done this before I spend some of the day determining how Iíll make a dark space. Eventually I make a viewing box to place directly over the core and slide down the length of it and rig up a blanket tent.

These activities take up the remainder of the day, but it looks like weíre in good shape to get started tomorrow. Back at camp, Luke does a PM (preventative maintenance) on the generators, Luci restocks the kitchen after it was ravaged during our driving spree, and Josh fixes the boom on the PB which was sheared right through in two places during the last leg of our trip to this site.