EastGRIP - Field Diaries 2017

Close down of EGRIP 2017

22 August 2017

Being well prepared most of the day was spent waiting for the Skier to arrive.

Busy surface team

21 August 2017

The remaining structures on the surface have been taken down and stored today.

Camp is going down

19 August 2017

After 15 left camp Friday the camp is being taken down really fast.

Final ice shipped off

18 August 2017

Today we had a very successful mission to EGRIP.

Last day at EGRIP

17 August 2017

The mission to EGRIP has been postponed to Friday.

Sun is setting at EGRIP

16 August 2017

After August 13th the sun touches the horizon around 0:30.

From storm to peace

15 August 2017

After a very windy night

Last day of drilling

14 August 2017

To believe that we already have reached the last day of drilling.

A weekend with celebrations

12 August 2017

The weekend has been very windy with quite a lot of snow.

The winter hills of EGRIP

11 August 2017

Today the first winter hill was made and full drums of drill liquid for next year stored on the hill.

Documenting

10 August 2017

One of the last and very important tasks in camp is to document the whole camp.

EGRIP greenhouse

9 August 2017

We often grow some plants in the big windows in the cupula of the Dome.

End of season is becoming a reality

8 August 2017

Two weeks to the pull out of EGRIP….

Restaurant EGRIP

7 August 2017

Chef Gonzalo is spoiling us.

EGRIP tent camp

6 August 2017

As a new thing this year we have a tent camp for accommodation.

A busy day

4 August 2017

We woke up to a good and mostly sunny day again.

Snow and wind

3 August 2017

800 m is reached

2 August 2017

We are using the shorter Hans Tausen drill and only allowing cores to be 1.8 m while drilling through the brittle ice (500-1200 m).

Drone pictures of camp

1 August 2017

One of the benefits of drone programs is the nice overview pictures of camp.

Top VELUX window

31 July 2017

We have received a gift from the VILLUM Foundation.

Sunday pizza

30 July 2017

Saturday we receives Skier 61 and had the last crew exchange for this season.

Brittle ice cores

28 July 2017

The depth is 750 m where the age of the ice is around 6500 years before present and
we are in the zone where the ice is very brittle

Media at EGRIP

27 July 2017

This week has been special because we have media from Germany and Japan. It is a pleasure to be able to host them.

A busy day for Doc

26 July 2017

After lunch Trevor cut himself on a glass that broke in his hand and later Andreas, the cook helper included a slice of his skin for dinner while using the mandolin cutter.

CryoEggs

25 July 2017

One of the new projects in camp is the testing and development of Cryoeggs by Liz Bagshaw. The ‘ice-eggs’ contain loggers of temperature, pressure and electrical conductivity and a radio transmitter.

Getting settled in

24 July 2017

With such a big crew exchange there is need for establishing new drill groups, new logging groups, new science groups, new doctor and new surface program groups.

Crew exchange

23 July 2017

Saturday started with some filter runs in the drill trench, but when drilling was about to resume the drill tower did no longer tilt.

700 meters

21 July 2017

After fixing a few issues during the morning, the electronics section was successfully installed in the deep drill, and after dinner the drilling passed 700 meters (drillers depth).

Tests of patience

20 July 2017

Logging of bore holes is a time consuming process, as one carefully has to lower the logging device to a certain depth and the wait until stable readings of the parameters you want are achieved.

Brittle ice

19 July 2017

Today the drillers produced cores of good quality at a steady pace drilling cores of approx. 1.8 m length each run, so it seems that the filtering operation paid off in terms of easing the drilling operation.

Drilling again

18 July 2017

In the afternoon the bore hole was finally determined to be free of slush after retrieving more than 200 kg during the past days filtering operation.

Filtering

17 July 2017

Today was a day of filtering in the drill trench. The drillers estimate that some 180 kg of slush had been retrieved from the bore hole in total by the end of the day, and the bottom of the bore hole has still not been reached by the filter.

Service, repair, and cleaning

16 July 2017

This weekend the drillers have been servicing and repairing the coupling to the depth encoder and the deep drill winch, all in an effort to have a nicely working setup for the rest of the season.

Cave people

14 July 2017

In the caves of EGRIP you can often meet pairs of strange people who mostly reside in a cabin cooled down to -30 C.

Getting more plumb

13 July 2017

The drilling is continuing with the goal of reducing the bore hole inclination being front and center. Hence it was with great anticipation that the bore hole was logged today – did we manage to continue the good trend seen last weekend?

Rover on the run!

12 July 2017

Today Andrew made several test of the autonomous rover. First he made it drive in a triangular pattern north of camp, which the rover completed successfully.

Drilling cores sideways

11 July 2017

As the drillers are steadily decreasing the inclination in the bore hole a challenge encountered previously in the field season has returned: Floating pieces of ice core in the bore hole.

Printing drill parts

10 July 2017

The 3D-printer is now producing its second part for the deep drilling operation: A booster assisting in the chips transport inside the drill.

A turn for the better

9 July 2017

During the weekend we got good news from the deep drilling operation. The inclination in the bore hole is now decreasing as we drill deeper.

Another project finished

7 July 2017

During the past two weeks we have had to get through a pile of core troughs in bad need of cleaning, a tedious task as the troughs needs to be nice and smooth for our brittle ice core.

Good work-weather

6 July 2017

We took advantage of today’s nice weather to carry out some more surface work. Before lunch Ina and Jan drove off with the AWI radar system, destination 30 km upstream from camp.

A new device on the drill

5 July 2017

The drilling operation is now fully committed to reducing the inclination in the borehole.

Ice core melting

4 July 2017

This evening the last piece of ice went through the water isotope continuous flow analysis (CFA) system, thus completing the 350 meters of ice to be measured this season.

A busy day

3 July 2017

Today another milestone was reached here at EGRIP: The physical properties team completed the overview measurements of c-axis and grain size for the upper 350 meters of the EGRIP core.

A really nice weekend

2 July 2017

At EGRIP weekends are always nice.

We are on an ice sheet

30 June 2017

With all the comforts available in our camp here at EGRIP, it is very easy to forget how remote and exposed this ice sheet location is.

A beautiful day at EGRIP

29 June 2017

Today was truly a beautiful day at EGRIP.

A new machine in camp

28 June 2017

Having the right tools and spare parts at hand is one of the major challenges when
operating in a remote field location.

Passing 500 metre

27 June 2017

In a deep drilling operation it is always a goal to find a stable and reproducible mode, bringing up section after section of beautiful ice core.

Into the routines

26 June 2017

Monday was spent getting all the new people in camp accustomed to the different tasks we are carrying out here at EGRIP.

Saturday camp was busy

25 June 2017

Saturday camp was busy preparing pallets for the flight scheduled for Sunday.

New people and activities

23 June 2017

The deep drill was in operation morning and evening, whereas the borehole was logged in the afternoon. Ice quality is good, but the brittle zone is approaching.

Plane received and a difficult day for deep drilling and firn gas project

22 June 2017

Today was an unfortunate day for the deep drilling as an about 1 m long section of a core was lost by the drill.

Drilling at Swiss site

21 June 2017

A drilling attempt was made at the Swiss site today. The drill penetrated some 15 m in about 20 min! Several conditions were not optimal, but today’s achievement proves that the RADIX drill is indeed a rapid access drill.

Main ice core processing terminated

20 June 2017

Today the science trench finished processing of the upper 100 m of the main core, whereby the main science trench activities are terminated for 2017.

Arrival of the wind sledge

19 June 2017

Today the casing was mounted in the Swiss borehole.

Laki, Tambora, and a wind sledge that missed a great party

17 June 2017

Saturday the science trench processed ice from the top part of the deep core and the historical volcanoes of Tambora (1815 Indonesia) and Laki (1783 Iceland) were clearly detected as significant acidity spikes in the ice core at the expected depths.

Soda machine!

16 June 2017

The deep drilling appears to be in a stable mode with almost 22 m of high quality core drilled today.

Firn gas sampling program started

15 June 2017

There has been good progress at all four drilling locations as well as for the surface program.

Birthday!

14 June 2017

Today there has been drilling activities at four different sites in camp.

Another busy day

13 June 2017

The deep drilling had a successful day without any unexpected interruptions and drilling is back in two-shift mode.

Camp is up to full speed

12 June 2017

As camp is settling after the major crew exchange over the weekend, the activity level is rising.

Receiving Skier, starting new activities, and celebrating Saturday night on a Sunday

11 June 2017

Saturday afternoon weather improved and camp could receive Skier 71.

A dramatic day

9 June 2017

This is the day according to our plan that a plane should bring in a lot of people to form a new camp crew.

A LC-130 flight succeeded today

8 June 2017

It is very quiet in the dome tonight, and there was plenty of room in the kitchen at dinner time.

Weather forecast for Friday is bad

7 June 2017

In this line of work plans change constantly. Originally, we had two planes scheduled for Friday; but this morning we received a bad forecast for Friday weather.

Drilling is gearing down

6 June 2017

Drillers have now found a good mode of operation, and as we are short of drilling fluid until the flight on Friday, they now take their time to experiment with various add-ons that could optimize the operation.

A good routine day in camp with lots of activity.

5 June 2017

Drillers are drilling and processors are processing and two warm laboratories are in operation – all in the snow caves.

2017-06-04

4 June 2017

Once again, it became a good Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Saturday night dinner was prepared by Alexey and Eliza: Borsth (Russian beet soup) and roulade and knödel: Ilka, Matthias and Lydia.

First day in full operation.

2 June 2017

The people in the processing line in the science trench are learning the new routines.

Processing is beginning – very slowly.

1 June 2017

Today, the processing team got together and began processing

Theme of the day: Science trench is ready.

31 May 2017

Really good news today.

Warm laboratories ready

30 May 2017

Inside the science trench there are two warm laboratories.

Theme of the day: Ice core drilling

29 May 2017

Theme of the day: Ice core drilling

A good weekend

28 May 2017

This weekend was enjoyable for all in camp

3rd day with good weather

26 May 2017

We have now for three days ben blessed with good weather in camp, and in all fairness, I need to mention this after all my complaining about the weather in the last few weeks.

The new drill

25 May 2017

Our drillers, software guy and electrician play a game these days. The new drill electronics is re-programmed and re-wired, and sent down with the drill for testing.

Activity in the trenches.

24 May 2017

A lot of people are now active underground. The two warm laboratories have been assembled so now people are not only setting up tables and saws and equipment in the snow cave, but also inside the laboratories.

We received a flight

23 May 2017

Today, the LC-130 arrived with long awaited spareparts and equipment and food. And we said good bye to Harald, Motohiro, Jan, Grant, Elizabeth, Steffen and Camilla, and hello to Rasmus, Ilka, Benjamin, Jianzhong, Eliza and Christian. We are now 28 in camp.

We drill ice cores.

22 May 2017

The great news on this beautiful day is from the drill trench. In the afternoon drillers finished cleaning the hole for all the ice chips that have fallen to the bottom during the reaming operation.

A busy weekend

21 May 2017

Work began normally Saturday morning. It was warm; but the wind was always there to move snow around. Around 1430 clouds came rolling in and the wind picked up to 30 kt. It began to snow too.

Twin Otter back to Summit

19 May 2017

This morning weather improved, and the Twin Otter was able to fly to Summit, and that reduced camp population from 35 to 29.

We received two planes

18 May 2017

Today weather really showed how quickly it can change. The day began fine with beautiful flying weather: Sunshine, good wind along the skiway and good visibility.

Plane tomorrow.

17 May 2017

Tomorrow we expect a plane with more equipment, some spareparts, food and new people. Some will also leave the camp; but for the ones who stay, the rhythm of camp life will change as it normally does when new people arrive.

Flight in two days.

16 May 2017

When a flight period approaches, there is a sequence of events leading up the event. We began readying the skiway and apron a few days ago.

Pistenbully problems

15 May 2017

We tracked down the problem we have had with one of our Pistenbullys. It has a leak in the hydraulic brake that propagates in to the drive wheel. We have been in contact with the company, and we need a specialist up to do repairs.

Weekend

14 May 2017

Now, we have been here 18 days, and so far we have only had two days with weak wind. Wind speeds continue to be around 7 – 10 m/s and temperatures stay below – 20°C.

An enjoyable day

12 May 2017

We couldn’t believe it. No wind today and sunshine. It was a pleasure to work outside. We made a test of making an underground pipe for electrical cables.

Hey, a day without strong wind.

11 May 2017

We had a nice day today. For once the wind was not strong, and work outside was a pleasure.

Setting up drill electronics.

10 May 2017

The drillers, working in the underground drill trench are almost ready to ream the borehole. They have installed a new electronic drill motor control, and they are adjusting the software to answer the commands given from the drilling console.

Wind, cold and drifting snow.

9 May 2017

I know, it is a bit monotone to talk about the weather all the time; but we are quite dependent on it. Most of today, we had strong winds, and as temperature dropped, it became very cold to work outside.

The sky disappeared.

8 May 2017

This afternoon, the cloud cover over camp became so thick that the Sun disappeared and the sky got the same color as the snow surface and the horizon vanished. Everything was just white.

The first real Saturday evening and weekend at EGRIP 2017

7 May 2017

Saturday morning began dramatically. At breakfast, the main generator stopped. The problem was located to the fuel injector pump.

We had a visit

5 May 2017

It looks like our isolation is soon broken. Today, Jens Christian managed to setup the satellite disk so that it indeed receives a good signal.

A day in the salt mines.

4 May 2017

Although the wind doesn’t let up, several people today braved the wind and worked on the surface.

Spring has arrived!

3 May 2017

As forecasted, temperatures really increased today to a high of -8°C. Associated with this increase in temperature, high winds of up to 36 kt were forecasted.

We have running water

2 May 2017

Although it is still cold and windy, there was no snow drift, and work continued on the surface and in the trenches. It was a big step forward as both water systems came on-line.

First flight succeded

1 May 2017

Today, for once, we were not nervous about receiving a plane to EGRIP. The weather was perfect: Clear blue sky, -20 °C and a moderate wind alongthe skiway.

Grooming!

30 April 2017

In the afternoon the wind dropped to 12 kt. We groomed the skiway in preparation for the flight tomorrow. When the plane arrives tomorrow, camp crew will almost double to 20.

Indoor work

29 April 2017

The wind picked up and temperatures continued to drop. It was impossible to do work on the skiway, and work outside was hard. We therefore mainly worked indoors.

We now have a village.

28 April 2017

Today was a big construction day. As the wind had gone down, the weatherport tent buildings were hauled from winter storage and placed at the designated construction sites.

Day two at EGRIP, with a twist of a blizzard.

27 April 2017

Although we have to build several weatherports to have room for all people, including the people arriving on Sunday, we cannot build the weatherports in strong wind.

EastGRIP camp 2017 is now open!

26 April 2017

The first team of 12 field participants arrived at EastGRIP at 12.40 local time. Temperature was -18°C and the wind was 17 knots, so it felt quite chilly.

Field season begins April 20th

23 March 2017

Field season beginning soon! Stay put for more info!