Ice Cores from the Dry Valleys October 2003

Ice Cores from the Dry Valleys of Antarctica

Karl Kreutz, Bruce Williamson, Erich Osterberg
October 18, 2003 to December 10, 2003

October 23, October 25, October 27, October 29, October 30, 31, Nov. 1, 2, November 27, 2003
In the field: Day 1-5, Day 6-10, Day 16-21

Monday November 17, 2003

click on a photo to see it full size

Day 11
Weather: Mostly cloudy and windy all day. Light snow by evening
Temps: Very cold: ~5†F
Ice collected: 29.5 m

Tim and Rebecca left via helicopter to return to their camp at Lake Hoare. We spent the whole day drilling the ice core from the bottom of the snowpit with the hand auger all the way down to ~15 m depth – a very good core!

Tuesday November 18, 2003

Day 12
Weather: Light snow all day with wind from the east
Temps: ~10†F
Ice collected: 30.5 m

Conducted our GPS survey along the radar lines all day. Karl and Mike dug an additional 1 m-deep snowpit and dug behind the pit as well to make a back-lit pit. It was very cool to see all of the different layers of snow light-up (see picture). Each layer has a different density, and may represent up to one year of snowfall.

Wednesday November 19, 2003

Day 13
Weather: Snow and windy, visibility down to 100 m or so.
Temps: ~10†F
Ice collected: 30.5 m

Did some snow sampling and analysis of the new 1 m-deep back-lit snowpit. The weather became much worse after that. We all retired to our tents to wait out the storm.

Thursday November 20, 2003

Day 14
Weather: Storm continues. Strong southerly wind with snow. Lots of blowing and drifting snow.
Temps: Teens?
Ice collected: 30.5 m

Today was supposed to be our day to move to the Blue Glacier, but there is no chance for the helicopter to fly in this weather. We spent all day in tents reading to wait out the storm.

Friday November 21, 2003

Day 15
Weather: Beautiful day – clear and sunny, calm
Temps: Teens
Ice collected: 30.5 m

Broke down our camp and moved to our new camp on the Blue Glacier. It took 3 helo flights, and everything went very smoothly again. Finished setting up the new camp by evening. Mike and Erich are starting to come down with a cold.
The Blue glacier is the most beautiful site yet. To the west of camp is Mt. Lister, with beautiful horizontal rock layers and high, jagged peaks. To the west are some lower ridges and hills. Several glaciers cascade down Mt. Lister into the Blue Glacier, with ice falls and several crevasse fields. Just a magnificent site!