Jan 15: CMP Day 2
This morning started out a bit chilly – it was not quite warm and it was windy. We could feel a bit of bite in the air.
Despite the cold, Ellen, Zoe, and I headed out to finish the CMP. It was chilly and boring and lasted 7 hours(?)… time is not real during the CMP.
The drillers, with the help of E, finished a 33 m hole with the Eclipse drill and a 13 m hole via hand auger. They then packed up the drill to head to the 25 cm site (the last site to drill at!) to start drilling the 130 m hole.
Ilyse and Dylen finished work at the 8 cm site after days of troubleshooting. Finally, the 8 cm site is completely finished! Also, the 4 cm site is almost done and the 2 cm site is well on its way.
For dinner, Ilyse and Dylen made grilled cheese and tomato soup. Some of us (me) ended up a bit tired and brain numb after today’s long CMP day.
Jan 16: Fresh Dyl
This morning was nice and warm – everyone was quite happy to see and feel the sun today.
Dylen and Ilyse headed out to the 4 cm site to work on temperature measurements using the DTS cable and turn on the motherboard there. They’re in the home stretch for setting up the 4 cm site!
Ellen, Zoe, and I headed out to the 25 cm site to redo some things that didn’t completely work out. Zoe and I zipped out there first to reposition the ApRES overwinter station and redo the campaign ApRES measurement, which were both oriented ~90º off of the flow direction. Ellen towed the PulseEKKO slowly behind her as she headed out to the 25 cm ApRES site to meet Zoe and I, taking a radar transect measurement on the way.
The three of us finished up and headed over to the 25 cm drill site ~1 km away. We arrived just in time for lunch, where we were saved by hot dehydrated food. It’s difficult to eat cold Pringles and chocolate bars for lunch every day – it gets old very quickly. Safe to say that the dehy is not exactly delicious but it saved me.
Anyway, I headed back out after lunch to complete the strain grid while E and Ellen learned how to core log. I drove around to various GPS points that Ellen marked, put a piece of conduit in the snow, and put the GNSS on top for four minutes to record the exact location and height. Next year, someone will (hopefully) come back to these poles and put the GNSS on top again to measure precise ice flow. We expect that the ice will move and we can track this movement/flow using satellite measurements but the localized strain grid is a more precise way of measuring ice flow.
While I was strain gridding, Zoe had to head back to meet the incoming flight which had the NSF Office of Polar Programs director (and Zoe’s friend!), Kelly, on it. Zoe also met Dylan- not the Dylen who is already here, but a different Dylan who came out from McMurdo to help us. He’s received the lovely nickname of Fresh Dyl. Anyway, Ellen and E held down the fort core logging for 20 m of the 130 m microstruture core.
Later, Ellen and I headed to a spot just off the road from the 25 cm site to take another campaign measurement. While I was working on the campaign measurement, Ellen did the strain grid surrounding the 8 cm site.
It’s fun being together with more of the group during the workday. We’re typically quite split up into three teams so dinner is always fun. But, we’re hoping for Dylen and Ilyse to join everyone at the 25 cm site soon as they wrap up their work on the other side of Taylor Dome at the 4 cm site.
Forest and Elliot made tacos for dinner which were very well received. They’ve mastered the art of field tacos. E brought games so Zoe, Forest, Elliot, and E played Sushi Go! after dinner. Everyone was feeling like they got lots done today. It’s a game-changer to have extra hands to help out with science!
Jan 17: Double rainbow!
This morning, Ellen and I decided to sleep in so we missed the morning meeting and have no gossip to report from this. Anyway, it was not a super restful morning since we had to work on some tasks at camp and lend our sled to Fresh Dyl and E to carry the battery boxes out to the 2 cm site. While we waited for our sled to come back, I took pictures around camp! We left camp around lunchtime and headed straight to the 25 cm drill site to bother Forest, Elliot, and Zoe. We ate hot food (dehydrated) since they have a kettle out there and chatted before heading even further out to the 25 cm ApRES site to set up and start the CMP.
Meanwhile, Dylen and Ilyse headed to the 2 cm site with Fresh Dyl and E. The four of them installed the large and small battery boxes in the new battery coffin and Dylen and Ilyse got to work wiring strain gauges. Fresh Dyl headed back to camp early to make dinner and E headed to the 25 cm site to relieve Zoe of her core logging duties.
Ellen and I headed back to the 25 cm drill site for a snack break and to grab Zoe, now that she didn’t have to core log. We made hot cocoa and had crackers and cheese before running away and stealing Zoe. We got through 50 meters of the CMP today, despite Ellen and I getting a late start and despite Zoe’s headphones dying in the middle of her podcast </3.
Despite Ellen and I bothering them multiple times today, Forest and Elliot reached 60 m of the 130 m core today. The 130 m core is the longest that they’ll have to drill. During drilling breaks, Forest and E worked on hand augering a 10 m hole for a strain gauge to be deployed in.
There were some absolutely gorgeous sun dogs today which appeared as a double rainbow! It was super cool to watch the suspended and blowing snow in the air while I laid on the ground and contemplated life listened to my podcasts during the CMP.
Fresh Dyl graciously made dinner tonight – Tasty Bites chana masala with a side of fish and steak. We named our Ski-Doos for science purposes (to tell them apart since they all look the same). Mine is Clob since Forest tried to speak to me once and called me Clob instead of Claire… and Ellen’s is named Sludge since that’s her favorite meal to cook. Other names include Buckwheat, Hokey-Pokey, and Chuckwagon.
Jan 18: To-dos
Today, Ilyse wired the motherboard battery box at the 2 cm site and set up the anemometer. Dylen and Fresh Dyl set up the solar panel, too. Later, they came back to camp to troubleshoot thermistor strings.
The drillers continued working on the 130 m microstructure core. Elliot and Forest switch off running the drill and hand augering holes while E core logs. Later, Fresh Dyl came out to help them with the hand augering. We initially didn’t think that we’d have enough time for the 25 cm site setup due to delays and lack of personnel but we are now thinking that we might get it done! Dylen and Ilyse are working hard to get the 2 cm site done so they can head out to the 25 cm site and start work there.
Ellen and I took Zoe again to help with our long to-do list. Zoe and I set up the 2 cm overwinter site and campaign measurement while Ellen worked on the 4 cm strain grid. We forgot something at camp (and wanted to check the data from the 2 cm site we had just set up) so we headed back to camp for hot lunch. We headed back out again to complete the strain grid at the 2 cm site and do the last campaign measurement on that side of camp.
For dinner, Ellen and I cooked sludge yet again (we need to eat through the spinach we have) and talked about the take-out plan with the team. It sounds like it’ll take hours to dig out each tent since they’ve been blown in and buried by snow. We have to dig out each stake and try to shovel carefully so that we don’t cut the tent, the skirt, or the guy lines. We’ll plan to stop science and drilling on Friday in order to prepare for the take-out date of January 27th… not much time left.
Jan 19: Chilly
Today, everyone woke up particularly frigid. It’s transitioning to winter and we can feel it! Time to leave…
We’re wrapping up science this week with a deadline of Friday, January 23rd to get it done. After that, we’ll start digging up tents, food, and cargo to pack up and put on a flight out of here. We’re planning for three Basler flights for take-out so we’ll be filling those with cargo and people in a week and need to get everything ready.
Dylen and Ilyse finished the 2 cm site, woohoo! They completed temperature measurements and deployed the final strain gauge. They packed up their gear to move over to the 25 cm site and start work. They have a time crunch but feel that they’ve really figured out their system after the first three site setups. It’ll be exciting to have them at the 25 cm site with everyone else.
Speaking of the 25 cm site, Forest and Elliot drilled to 107 m of the 130 m chemistry core. E core logged since Ellen and I stole Zoe again. We hung out at the 25 cm site despite a bit of hanger and stress due to CMP troubleshooting.
The CMP data looked bad likely due to a cable issue. Since each 130 m long cable is made up of 12 smaller cables, it’s difficult to know which cable is causing the problem. Since we couldn’t finish the CMP today and that was sort of our last task, Ellen and I regrouped at camp and started packing our cargo. There was an insane sun dog at camp which Ellen and I were quite pleased with.
For dinner, Ilyse and Dylen cooked breakfast: pancakes, sausages, eggs, and hash browns.
Jan 20: EAGER to eAgeR to EAgeR…
We’re back EAGERing! Ellen and I didn’t realize that we’d need to flag the routes that we drove exactly. We need the exact position that the EAGER data collection took place since someone will come back next year and drive that exact same line to collect interferometric data. Interfetometry refers to the practice of comparing radio waves that bounce off of reflectors at different times. For example, people use satellite-based radar interferometry to get precise measurements of deformation due to earthquakes. By comparing radio waves at a given location before and after an event (like an earthquake, firn compaction, etc.), we can get millimeter-scale changes due to the phase change of the radio waves. So, we redid the EAGER profile for consistency.
I took the morning shift and went in the direction of the 2 cm site. Fresh Dyl and Zoe were digging a snowpit there – once again, Zoe had a Tyvek suit on to keep things uncontaminated. I zipped back to camp where Ellen had been flagging the 8 cm strain grid where we left unmarked conduit in random spots for people to boink into next year… We traded spots and Ellen started her shift while I hung out around camp and built another solar panel.
Meanwhile, E, Forest, and Elliot finished the 130 m core! Well, it was only 117 meters since they drilled down to the density they had wanted. They needed to stop early since the drill was drifting – the hole wasn’t completely straight down and it would be increasingly difficult to install a strain gauge in that hole if they kept going.
After powering up the 2 cm motherboard, Dylen and Ilyse brought their setup out to the 25 cm site where they worked on installing strain gauges in the hand augered holes. Home stretch!!!!
Jan 21: Working from home
Everyone ditched poor Ellen and I to head out to the 25 cm site. We were not sad, though! Ellen had plans to troubleshoot and dismantle 260 m of coax cable inside the kitchen tent while everyone was away. The cables need to be relatively warm or else the metal inside them clanks and the cables don’t move. She also needs electricity to operate the heat gun. I also made an educational video for kindergarteners in my friend’s classes!
So, while Ellen wrestled with cables, I worked on checking EAGER data from yesterday (surprise, we missed a spot!!!) and packing up food. Since we were expecting to be in the field for 6 weeks with 8 people, we ordered that much food. It’s been three weeks, going on four and we’ve had 7 people for the majority of the time. So, we have lots of food to get through. I consolidated food into rock boxes to be returned on a flight soon and pulled food from various boxes for the next few meals.
Meanwhile, the drillers drilled a record 43 meters to finish the Eclipse drilling at the 25 cm site. Zoe and E worked on the hand auger holes while Dylen and Ilyse deployed strain gauges. Fresh Dyl installed the solar panel at the 25 cm site, Ilyse wired up the data logger, and Dylen worked on the DTS temperature measurement. Lots of progress at the 25 cm site today!
Ellen and I made red curry and two special types of chocolate pudding: chia seed pudding and ginger snap chocolate pudding.
Less science, more heated rivalry content!
The way that rainbow looked spherical is so cool!
Ooh, I know I’d love ginger snap chocolate 🍮 pudding!