Field updates from Muller Ice Cap

  Daily Report for 15 May 2025   Today we managed to retrieve one more core from the main  bore hole. Drilling is slow, as we have to grind through ice with  quite a bit of sand and stone, something our ice core drill is not  really optimized for. While the drill teams keep at it to get as much  bottom material as we can, many other measurements are ongoing and Fei  reports a very interesting mercury observation at Müllers Ice Cap: “On May 13, we observed the occurrence of a mercury depletion event in the ambient air over the snow surface. The event lasted about 2 days with the air mercury concentration dropped to zero at times. This event is a direct result of bromine explosion over sea ice, suggesting that the Müller ice core might be promising in reconstructing past sea ice extent in the region”.   What we have done today: - Drilling main core all day, managed to retrieve one more core of silty ice, length 76cm. - Normal logging and O...

  Müller Ice Core Drilling Project   Daily Report for 14 May 2025   An extremely exciting day today in the best possible of ways!  In the second main core drill run, a small stone-like object could  be seen in the core (approx. 603 depth), in the following runs, more  and more similar objects appeared, and finally in the afternoon we got  a core with a color change of the ice itself – clearly, we entered the silty ice  seen near bedrock! The next two drill runs produced first some 27cm of core with a clear stone, and then 12 cm of core with another stone. Both short cores have been wrapped in black plastic to minimize light exposure to facilitate later luminescence dating. While the 27cm core got a few min. of light exposure, the second did not, thanks to a team effort diligently guided an carried out by Julien, who has experience in dark extraction of core material from ice core drills. Later on Iben organized a red light only zone in our fre...

  Daily Report for 13 May 2025 Late in the evening we hit another milestone in the main core  drilling, passing the 600m mark! Ice still contains lots of bubbles,  which is very exciting, as it suggests it is from a time period with  limited surface melting. In the firn-gas “suburbs” sample collection  and measurements are also progressing, with two more levels sampled  today. Finally, we also managed to ship out 36 ice core boxes to the freezer in Eureka, both thanks to the Rod and Issy piloting and loading the Twin Otter -åå++++++++++++and the kind help of, Rachel, Dave, Igor and Sergei as well as Eureka personnel, including Don making sure our freezer was turned on. Thank you so much to all involved in this important shipment out of camp!   What we have done today: - Drilling main core, drilled 16 runs from 573.91m to 600.83m (26.92m). - Logged and O18 sampled bags from bag 574 to 600. - Continued drilling of shallow core for firn-gas ...

  Daily Report for 12 May 2025   An exciting day here in our camp at the Müller Ice Cap. First of  all the first samples were collected in the firn-gas tent: in-situ  measurements of mercury, CO2 and CH4 and 5 cannisters were  filled with air for analyses at home.   Hence, now we hope for many  more samples taken at gradually increasing depths in the coming days. In  the main core drill tent there was also lots of excitement, during the first  half of the day, due to the ever-increasing likelihood of us hitting bedrock. Unfortunately, a different kind of excitement could be felt in the tent, as it was increasingly difficult to break the core! After a difficult core break, the filter was deployed in the bore hole, coming up 1/3 full. Drilling was resumed, yet core breaking remained difficult for the next two runs. Thus, filtering continued until the end the late shift, and a top up of estisol in the borehole.   What we have done tod...

  Daily Report for 10 and 11 May 2025 A busy and productive weekend here at the Müller Ice Cap.  In fact, we postponed our normal relaxed weekend schedule, in  order to make the most of the favorable weather conditions we  currently enjoy here at the Müller ice cap. Hence this weekend we  managed to finish the second shallow core, and to reach 557.66m depth in  the main core drilling operation. The firn-gas operation is setup and ready, and the  shallow drilling operation is moved close to the firn-gas tent. Hence, we have had a lot to celebrate, giving the days a bit of a “weekend feel” anyway. On top of all the accomplishments, many camp members have gracefully taken turns doing their very best to keep us all well fed, based on the food and instructions given to us by Taylor – we all wish you the best, Taylor!! What we have done during the weekend: - Drilling main core, drilled 31 runs from 495.58m to 557.66m (30.08 m Saturday, 32.00m Sunday). ...

  Daily Report for 9 May 2025   A day of ups and downs here at the Müller Ice Cap. Starting with  one of the hard facts of remote field camps, we are not equipped  to take care of any potential serious medical conditions for more than  a brief period of time. Hence, we had to call a Twin Otter to medivac  our camp cook today, as a mainly precautionary measure, making use of the  splendid weather conditions we have – a big thank you to Issy and Rod for quickly  getting Taylor back to Resolute, and many hugs to Taylor, and fingers crossed that she will be able to return after assessment and treatment in Iqaluit. On the positive side, all our drilling and science operations in camp are progressing at pace, but with some 20% of our main cores being difficult to handle today, due to the brittleness of the ice. Cores with many fractures are a challenge for the logging, and at also for some of the science to be done. We do our best to adjust on both d...

  Daily Report for 8 May 2025 The new crew spend most of the day getting to know their tasks  here in camp. Hence, we recommenced the deep drilling at a gentle  but persistent pace without implementing shifts, as to maximize  knowledge transfer, slowly building up a new rhythm. The firn-gas  campaign is getting their instrumentation moved to their tent SE of camp,  while the shallow drilling operation has been moved closer to the firn-gas tent. Furthermore, a second core is now being drilled and logged at the new site. In general, everybody seems to settle into the camp life here at Müller Ice Cap, greatly helped by the excellent meals being prepared for all of us by or new chef in camp, Taylor.   What we have done: - Resumed drilling main core, drilled 8 runs from 450.45m to 464.86m (14.41 m). - Logged and O18 sampled bags from bag 451 to 464. - Started drilling second shallow core, current logged depth: 10.85m. - Worked on firn-gas setu...