By Hugues Goosse

Nearly twelve days after leaving Belgium, we were able to make our first measurements at the location where the ice core drilling was performed last year.

The main objective was to measure the changes compared to last year to obtain estimates of snow accumulation at surface and ice movement.

Unfortunately, the camp location with our tents was about 30 km away from the drilling site. We thus had to commute every morning and evening by skidoo. As the surface was very rough and the weather conditions not always great, this took each time between one hour and a half and two hours.

Opening the drilling hole of last year that has been protected from the snow by a wood box.

This means that it was quite long days but with 24 hours of light, you feel it less. We were very happy as all the measurements were going well and we were able to finish in one day less than planned.

More information on those measurements will come in the forthcoming posts.

We also had to organize the everyday life for four days in this temporary camp. Space is limited but everything is well organized to facilitate our life.

The nights in the tent do not pose any major problem. You are used quickly to undress at a temperature below zero degree and the sleeping bag becomes warm very quickly. In the morning, it is more or less like at home as the temperature becomes higher than 10°C see in the tent than warms up below the sun.

Having a kitchen and bathroom is also much appreciated. This means that you can always warm up inside if needed and have a hot coffee or tea. You can also take all your meals at a nice temperature and then get ready for outside work.

Dcember 16th, we put everything back in the container in order to move to the main camp on the ice rise where we will stay more than three weeks in order to drill our new ice core.