Things are rolling along at WAIS Divide. The ice coring is progressing and we are nearing a depth of 3000 meters. The drillers have had to deal with several difficult issues this year with their equipment, but have always been able to get us up and running very quickly. The engineers in their group are absolutely amazing. No drilling issue is too difficult for them to solve.
On the science side of things, we are logging away. There are about 2 and half weeks of drilling left with our goal still sitting around 3300 meters. It's hard to say if we are going to make this goal or fall a little short...but I'm sure it is going to be close. It still boggles my mind to think of how successful this ice-coring project has been. In 3 and a half drilling seasons, we've been able to drill nearly 3 kilometers of ice and we've still got 2.5 weeks to go.
This week, the science techs (the group i'm a part of) finally went to 8 hour shifts. One member of our team was delayed in getting here and finally arrived. This gave us enough people to make 8 hour shifts a reality. Up until now we were doing two 12 hour shifts. It didn't leave much time for any kind of exercise or basic personal time. But now...with 8 hour days I have plenty of time to finally catch up on some science papers and even have a little fun outside. This afternoon a group of us went out and decided to hit some red golf balls around. It was really nice to have a little time to unwind.
As of right now I'm scheduled to leave WAIS around Jan 31st. While I love my great-flat-white 2nd home here in Antarctica....I'm looking forward to getting back home in PA.
1 comment:
Thats a nice looking swing John.
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