Many new hands and new projects

Floor is laid of the new weatherport. Left to right: Jakob, Christoph, Malte, Dennis and Trevor

With the plane yesterday came drillers and drilling equipment, and for the first time this year, ice drilling equipment is being setup. There is a Swiss system that will be tested here at EGRIP and the Danish system will both be to assistance for the Swiss system, and be used for drilling a shallow core to 30 m in the undisturbed snow. This core will serve as top reference for the deep core of which the top 120 m will be drilled this year. A compact shallow coring system (Covacs) is also being tested. In the tunnels, the floors were left higher than the floors in the science trench and the drill trench. The balloon technique only allows for a ceiling height equal to the width, and since we need the tunnels higher than wide, we just cast the balloons with a higher floor, and now we remove the floor. Today, weather was fine. It was the warmest day since the day we arrived, 27th April. People took off their heavy parca coats and enjoyed not to have cold noses, ears and fingers.

What we have done today:

1. Service on PB 1, troubleshooting relay problem on implement carrier.
2. Finished new weatherport and mounted beds.
3. Lowering floor in both tunnels and hauling snow blocks to surface.
4. Swiss drill test site setup.
5. Assembling Danish shallow drill.
6. Test of the Covacs drill.
7. Finished laying cables to SV side of mainstreet.
8. Grooming skiway, taxiways, apron and both turnarounds.

Weather today: Sunny with few thin clouds. Temp. –7 °C to - 20 °C, Wind 10 kt from SV. Visibility: To horizon.

FL, J.P. Steffensen