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2007

Date: November 23, 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: −31°C ( −24°F)
Wind Speed: 13 knots
Wind Chill: −45°C (−50°F)
Elevation: 2490 meters (8169 feet)
Kilometers Traveled: 232
Ice Core Drilled: 85 meters
Written by: Nicky

Today is eventful, but also sort of lazy in the way that only the day after a holiday can be. The "phone booth" is definitely busy, as everyone wants to speak to their family and friends during the holiday. In between phone calls, our day of drilling is wonderfully successful. Mike, Paul, Dan D., Elena and I drill all afternoon with nary a problem, our bellies full of the tasty falafel that Luci labored over most of the morning.

Brian and Josh take the PB out 5km to do a test profile with the new set–up. Gordon and Dan B. spend most of the day drilling 3 ten–meter holes in which to put metal poles that will be measured with a GPS and left until next year. In the evening, Dan B.'s down–hole instrument is put to its very first non–test use and Luke does weather observations. It looks like we could be finished here tomorrow.

 

Date: November 24, 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: −31°C ( −24°F)
Wind Speed: 11 knots
Wind Chill: −44°C (−48°F)
Elevation: 2490 meters (8169 feet)
Kilometers Traveled: 232
Ice Core Drilled: 95 meters
Written by: Nicky

Busy, busy, busy! What an action-packed day! Drilling with the 3" drill is completed today and the work of getting everything packed up begins. The science sled, which has become quite disheveled in the last several days, needs to be totally rearranged. All the empty ice core boxes are taken off and pushed to the side so that all the full (heavy) ones can occupy the bottom level. Before they can be placed on the sled, the (now full) boxes need to be re–TCN'd, as many of the stickers on these boxes are from last year. With the wind and the cold this proves to be a challenge, but it's nothing Dan D., Elena, myself, a bottle of spray adhesive and a heavy duty staple gun can't handle. Once all the boxes are strapped back down, the snow begins to fly. Everyone is excited about having finished at the first site and the most logical way to celebrate is with a good old fashion snowball fight, right? Right.

Throughout the day, the dynamic duo of Gordon and Dan B. is constantly in motion. The metal GPS poles, which will relate to us the vertical and horizontal displacement of the ice sheet, are melted into place. A site survey is conducted, so the effects of the local topography on the accumulation rate can be understood, and the down–hole instrument makes its final run. Brian is also busy; he will be doing a continuous mid–point profile (CMP) today and this requires hours of set–up for minutes of testing. Once the set up is done, Josh and Luke take the two CATS out and drive in opposite directions at the same very slow speed (one dragging the transmitter, one dragging the receiver) so that Brian can see the difference in velocity (I'm not explaining this well). Afterwards, Luke and Luci rearrange the food sled together and then Luci melts water while Luke checks the generator oil. Most of the packing up is complete by dinner and we plan to leave for Site 2 shortly after breakfast tomorrow.