Drilling is stopped for a while

Almost at 10 m depth with the hand auger. First Italian shallow core drilled at Renland – in a snowstorm.

During the first run of the day, it was discovered that the winch for the drill needs some repair. Therefore, drilling was stopped, the cable was unspooled onto a cable drum, and the winch was examined. It may take a couple of days until the winch has been repaired, so the deepest part of the ice cap will not be explored right away. Instead there is time to look into other things.

A firn core (A06) was drilled to 11m depth by the hand auger 100m north of camp. During drilling it became rather windy and it started to snow and drift. For the same reason we now have rather large snow dunes all over camp in N-S direction.

Jakob is having good progress with his fast access drilling setup. The drill fluid system has been set up with pump, reservoir, and chips extractor. After several attempts the drill has been lowered to the base of the casing. There are still some preparations to be done until the drill can be launched and we look very much forward to see how that turns out!

Weather: Substantial snowfall and snow drift. The wind has turned 360 deg anti-clockwise over the last 48 hours, but it is now back in its prevailing northern direction. Temperatures -10°C to -7°C. Wind 2-7 m/s. Pressure has been rising last 24 h.

FL Recap, Anders Svensson