Location: Summit, Greenland
Writin': Gayle

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the slow update over here - my laptop was relegated to run air monitoring instruments so it has been a little tougher to get online. BUT, all is going great over here on the ice! For the past two days, I have been out at an ice core drilling site about 5 km from the main camp. The main driller, Bella, taught me how to run the drill - it is definitely an art form!

Here is me at the wheel of the drill...my left hand is acting as a break on the wheel as the huge drill descended deep into the hole and my right hand is operating the different gears and speed dials. It definitely is tricky to get it all working right!

Here is the very deep hole we are lowering the drill into...


And...here is the 3 m core I drilled! This one was about 150 m deep into the ice (about 300 years back!) and was just for practice...we brought it back to the camp as "party ice" to chop up and put into drinks. When you put the ice into a drink it pops and crackles due to being under compression for so long.

Other interesting things going on here include the raising of the "Big House"- one of the few heated buildings and where we eat all of our meals. Due to the annual accumulation of snow, the Big House is nearly underground and a construction crew from Alaska is here to raise it up nearly 30 feet on stilts! So far it is up about 6 feet and we are very carefully walking up planks to get to the kitchen...


So, I have about 3 more days here, then 2-3 in Kangerlussuaq, then returning to New York and then to Georgia! It will be good to be home and my nose will probably be happy to have some recovery from the winds and sun...I definitely look like Rudolph over here. :)

~ Gayle