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For the past few days, we have had sled dog work to do. But we have no dogs. So Toby and I have been harnessed to a sled which contains ground penetrating radar walking up and down the Clark Glacier testing the equipment. We use the radar to find the bedrock under the ice and by doing this find out how thick the ice is where we are drilling. This helps us to know how much time is captured in the ice we are drilling. Actually, we brought the radar mostly to test the depth on the Victoria Upper Glacier, as we already did a radar survey on the Clark in 2003, but it is good to have the extra data for the Clark as well, and now we know that the radar works and that we know how to run it. It's also good having Toby back, and we have once again settled into our earlier routines, with the exception that now we are also hosting one of the "artists in residence" for the United States Antarctic Program, bringing our camp to 6 members. The artist's name is Sara Andrews, and she writes mystery novels based on geology themes. We have tried to convince her to try to solve the mystery of the seal, but I don't think she is going that direction. She helped Toby and me with the radar, which was much appreciated, and has also made some great food. Sara will be with us for the next week or so, depending on helicopter availability and other factors. Drilling continues to move forward, and we are getting better core at this depth (about 150 meters) than we have been able to get before.
We also took an evening and went down to the toe of the glacier to see what the Wright Valley and the glacier cliff were like. To see the ice we have been on top of from the side is a powerful experience. We also heard pieces calving off of this face quite a bit. A good thing we weren't under them.