Field updates from Muller Ice Cap

 Daily Report for the 24 April 2025   The day started well but after a few drill-runs it was time to add drill liquid to the borehole. During the operation the connection between two parts of the firehose slipped and 55 m of firehose went down to the bottom of the borehole… Luckily Grant had a rescue tool – a harpoon looking item to attach under the  drill and we got the hose ‘hooked’ after few attempts. As shown on the picture is was not a firm grip but we managed to retrieve the firehose and pull all up. Later during the day, a Twin Otter came by after a failed attempt to bring Laura and Miles to the MARS station. We had the pleasure of showing Laura, Miles and the Twin Otter pilots around and hosting them for a cup of tea and some of Shari’s homemade cookies. Even with the hose rescue interference, we had a record drilling day retrieving close to 42 m of ice core.   What we have done: -Drilled 24 runs from 117.42 m to 158.75 m -Recovered 55 m of fi...

 Daily Report for the 23 April 2025 The first day wet drilling. It requires more care to preserve the  drill liquid and not pollute. We pump liquid down through a 80 m long firehose so it enters the borehole below the pore close off and thus, cannot seep out into the ice. Grant has made a ‘cable wiper’ that is mounted on the cable just over the liquid in the borehole. It wipes the liquid off the cable again to reduce the loss. On the surface we gather the liquid in buckets and melts the mixture of drill liquid and ice cuttings in a drum so the water and drill liquid separates. The drill liquid is then reused. We all wear special drill clothes that stays outside our kitchen tent and dries overnight in the generator tent. What we have done: -Drilled 9 runs to run 91, from 99.66 m to 117.42 -Logged, weighed, O18 sampled and ECM measured bags 100 - 117. -Finished the first shallow ice core at a depth of 70 m   Dorthe Dahl-Jensen   Wx at Müller: Ground fog...

 Daily Report for the 22 April 2025   To change from dry to wet drilling the borehole needs to have a slightly larger diameter to allow the drill to move up and down through the liquid. After implementing the improvements to the drill software program we rimmed the borehole fishing all the cuttings up by drilling small ice cores as plugs. We ended the day by logging the borehole with the mini logger to follow the temperature and ensure the borehole is plum. While preparing for wet drilling in the main camp Ali, Etienne, Jaime and Sofia went out to the Mountain View shallow drill site a few hundred meters away and drilled 36 m with the Eclipse drill. Jaime and Sofie drilled their first ice core 😊   What we have done: -Drilled 36 m with the Eclipse drill at Mountain View -Rimmed the bore diameter up to 129.6 mm in preparation of the   wet drilling. Drilled from 96.01 m to 99.66 m -Logged, weighed, O18 sampled and ECM measured bags 97- 99. -Calibrated...

Daily Report for the 21 April 2025 Monday was the first day where we worked in shifts the  whole day from 8 am to midnight: This worked well and we drilled and measured 41.2 m of ice. By the end of the day the ice became more brittle and we decided that we the next day would change to liquid drilling.  At a depth of around 100 m the ice starts to break because of the big pressure difference between the open borehole and the ice under pressure of 100 m of above laying ice. When we add liquid to the borehole we increase the pressure around the core making the drilling more gentle and the ice quality becomes better. At the end of the day we saw an interesting brown layer in the ice cores. Measurement of the conductivity over the layer did not indicate that this was a volcanic layer. However, right at the end of the day, the ECM showed a mayor conductive layer and by comparing with other ice records we know that this was the trace of the big Icelandic Laki eruption in 1783 AD. We ...

 Daily Report for the 19-20 April 2025 Weekend – and even Easter weekend! While the drill production is slowly increasing, we stopped working Saturday at 4 pm. After 2-3 weeks in the ice cap a shower sounded really nice. We used 4 hours and 80 liters of water showering in the Viessman freezer and turned into a hothouse. We moved the Webasto heater out in the cabin and with a pot of warm water and a camping shower head we all took a shower. After that we had an Easter Egg hunt in the drill tent   and a very eager group raced around finding colorful eggs and Kinder Eggs with toys. After that, we had pizza for dinner and played games. A really good evening.  Now the Viessmann is turned back into a freezer and the first five full ice core boxes are stored at cold temperatures.   What we have done: -Saturday: Drilled 7 ice cores from 26.39 m to 33.14 m below the present  surface. -Sunday: Drilled 14 ice cores from 33.14 m to 54.72 m below the present surf...

 Daily Report for the 18 April 2025   Although we still had some power generator problems we managed to drill most of the day. The firn (old snow that became glacial ice) in the cores becomes  more dense with fewer ice layers. Very promising 😊 At the Mountain View Suburb, the cable was respooled and the inclined  trench dug so they Eclipse drill is ready to go. We have decided to start the work in shifts tomorrow, but start easy with a Saturday and Sunday. What we have done: -Drilled 8 ice cores from 17.88 m to 26.39 m below the present surface. -Worked with power failure problems related to drilling. -Logged, weighed, O18 sampled and ECM measured bags 18 to 26. -Respooled the cable on the Eclipse winch. -Made the inclined trench for the Eclipse drill and the drill is ready to go.   Dorthe Dahl-Jensen   Wx at Müller: Blue sky with light overcast, wind 6km from 225 deg, temperatures between -26 to -24 deg C. Caption: A Müller ice cor...

 Daily Report for the 17 April 2025 As you might have noted from the pictures from camp drying of  boots and socks are reappearing events. Today we thought we had smoke in the front tent while eating lunch. It turned out to be water vapor from all the drying boots spread out all over the floor. Interestingly, we all agree that we don’t smell …..  Today we have had a lot of problems with our drills. The intermediate drill kept causing power failure… when pulling up with the winch. The shallow drill, the Eclipse drill also had problems with the winch motor. Grant, Kevin and Etienne used a lot of the time trying to solve the problems while David built a platform to protect cables, Emma, Jaime and Sofia started sampling the inclined trench for O18 and organized clothing for the wet drilling to come and Shari baked focaccia bread for dinner.   What we have done: -Drilled 7 ice cores from 9.07m to 17.88 m below the present surface. -Worked with power failure prob...