Ice core “bag 500”

The RECAP team (minus Emily from the firn gas team, who was fast asleep) celebrating ice core “bag 500”, corresponding to a depth of 275 meters. From left: Dennis (driller, drill mechanic, and polar bear special consultant), Bruce (driller, generator caretaker, and much more), Lizzie (doctor and logger), Bo (project leader and logger), Todd (firn gas project leader), Trevor (chief driller and general bad-ass), Johannes (shallow driller, snow pit digger, and logger), Sune (field leader and logger), and Sarah (cook).

We are gradually changing the daily rhythm for the firn gas/shallow core team: Johannes, Todd, and Emily are now drilling shallow cores (2 cores drilled today) with the hand auger around the camp. That type of work is much more pleasant when it is not so cold, so they are slowly changing back to “real time”, also preparing for being flown back to the coast later this week.

The main drilling is still going very well. We produced 24.11 meters of core in 13 runs.

We are very pleased with the extended Hans Tausen drill, which is consistently producing cores of 1.8 – 2.1 meters. This is about half a meter more per run that what the classic Hans Tausen drill can produce.

The extra core length means that we at least keep up with the planned production also when taking the time to maintain the drill, adjust the tower, top up the liquid level, and all the other tasks that are necessary for the operation to continue in a stable and sustainable mode.

One of the cores drilled today had an unfortunate core break that caused a crack affecting 90 cm of core, but otherwise, the core quality remains excellent. Logged depth 287.23 m.

Weather: Scattered clouds with beautiful views to the mountains afar. During the entire workday, stable temperatures of -14°C to -12°C. Winds of 2-4 m/s from East.


Best,
Sune O. Rasmussen, RECAP FL