High temperatures in the drill tent

Italian cuisine at Renland prepared by Niccoló and Andrea. Homemade gnocchi on the table ready for cooking.

Today it was too warm in the drill tent to start drilling and core processing until at around 9. Later a broken switch in the winch controller had to be repaired. The logging depth at the end of the day is 510.41 m. We have still not reached glacial ice, but the Electical Conductivity Measurement is closely followed as we expect a drop in the signal as we enter cold glacial ice.

After several attempts the casing tube for Jakobs fast access borehole is now solidly frozen into the ice sheet at 75 m depth. The tightness of the tube mounting is tested by increasing the pressure in the tube using - a bicycle pump. The casing can withstand a pressure of 9 bars.

During the afternoon, we all had an outdoor shower in a tent with a nice bucket of warm water to get rid of the worst drill liquid and diesel. Luckily there was no wind.

Our two Italian participants Niccoló and Andrea prepared an excellent Saturday night dinner with homemade Piadina and Gnocchi followed by a café corretto (coffee with squeeze of Fernet Branca or Grappa). Like last Saturday night we could sit outside after dinner and enjoy a calm sunny night (day).

Weather: Clear blue sky, very warm, and almost no wind. Temperatures -2°C to -7°C, wind 0-1 m/s from N and NW.

Jakob increasing the pressure of the casing tube up to 9 bars using bicycle pump.

Saturday night outdoor relaxation under sunny and calm conditions. From left to right: Steff, Sarah, Bo, Jakob, Andrea, Jan, Trevor, Lizzie, and Niccoló.

Renland FL, Anders