GRIP

Well it was another beautiful day on the ice sheet. This morning I downloaded all of my data and made a few graphs. I was very happy with the data so I took the afternoon off and went with the DISC drill team on a field trip to the GRIP ice core site.

Yes I know you may be asking what does a field trip look like on an ice sheet. Don’t worry I will tell you as well as post of few photos. Make sure you look out for the new red darthlora.

Let me go back a step. First the Disc drill team is group getting the new deep ice core up and running. This core can core for kilometers into the ice sheet. They are testing it at Summit this year and then in about 18 months it will start drilling the next long ice core in Antarctica. The Disc drillers are all really cool. They are easy to spot because they are all from Wisconsin and speak with accents. (Some claim to be from other places but I find this suspect because of the strategic use and command of the word eh and they are all drinking Milwaukee’s Best.) Actually there are so many people here from Wisconsin I think Summit may be annex into the state. The Veco sport Staff are running a close second in an attempt to claim summit for Montana. Actually there are no posted speed limits so maybe they beat the Wisconsin’s to it.

Ok back on track now that you know the people I am around. The field trip: We had no school buses just Naansen sleds behind skidoos. The uniform was red and puffy. Image a group of grown ups three to a sled all sitting on each others laps, legs out, bouncing around in giant puffy red coats, that was our transport. We ride in style. A special thanks to Michelle for lending me here puffy red coat, I fit right in.

It was about 25 km out to the GRIP site. The site was abandoned in 1993. It is now completely buried from about 1 meter of accumulation a year. There were many building but we can still get into one because people have dug a hole into the skylight in the roof. OK this is a little safety last but don’t worry we had a rope and Andrew the adventure medic. So to get into the building you slide down a hole/tunnel. You slide about 7 meters until you hit a skylight. At this point you push back the broken plastic of the skylight and slide through the hole where a ladder has been placed. Down the ladder and you are on the second floor of a geodesic dome. This I believe was a sleep loft and office judging by the bunk beds and desks. Then down the stairs into a kitchen area. Last time they measured it was about -55 F in the dome. For the first time in my life I had icicles hanging form my eyelashes. Your breath would instantly freeze onto you facemask and eyelashes.

On the bottom floor of the dome, we should have had about 13 meters of snow over head. Everything at the camp was abandoned. There was still food on the shelves and other random junk. There was a Danish newspaper from Jan 1, 1993. (Ok I can’t read the Danish months but I was told it said January, wish HC was here) The floors of the dome are all bulging in for the weight of the snow.

As we were leaving I got a picture by the drill shaft. I have now stood on the spot of one of our greatest Paleoclimate records. Very cool. To top it all off as we were loading the sleds Andrew the Adventure medic decided to deem the dome a hazard so we may be the last people to ever go into the GRIP camp.

The day ended with a BBQ and a game of snow horse shoes. I actually was quite pleased with my horse shoe skills, however, it was a bit slow of a game to play in the snow. Perhaps we could have a running game next time to generate more heat. -26 C -14 F out right now. Amazingly it really doesn’t feel very cold.