After some teeth broke out of the drill bits and had to be fished and some compressor blackouts the 100 Meter mark was reached faster than everyone expected. So far we recover mainly ice-bearing, fairly coarse-grained material.
At nighttime the traverse from Pevek already expected for days finally arrived! Escorted by one of the Bulldozers from on-site that went over the crater rim to look out for them three trucks brought more fuel to fire up the engines of the drilling rig. Together with the diesel new coal was brought for the stoves in the private boloks as the electrical devices don’t provides enough heat for cold windy nights. Everyone is relieved for being able to continue the work: Full steam ahead!
Drilling continues with an average progress of app. 20m/day. Though some drilling bits had to be changed on the way today we advanced to a depth of 54 meters. The cores are pictured, described and packed into thermoboxes. They will be finally send back by a charterflight to St.Petersburg and continue their transport to Potsdam via an established connection by a cold-truck.. Meantime the weather turned into a mess again, welcoming us with strong icy winds at a temperature of -25°C on the transition. But in the rig the heat is on!
The drilling has started. The casing for the first two meters - drilled with a 220mm diameter - was placed in the hole and during the first night a progress of 10 meters was made. The drillers as well as the scientists work in 12 hour shifts 24/7. The drilling rig is a SIF 650 M. The outer diameter following the 220 mm start-up is 161 mm, with an ID of 112 mm for the actual core. The drill is driven by a pneumatic-rotary system. A compressor generates a high air pressure to get out the cutting (which are collected as well) and to guarantee for clean cores.
Finally after a hard 250 km traverse from Pevek our two All-Terrain Military Vehicles locally called “Vestikhot” arrived. Now it’s time for the generator and the compressor to be moved to the drilling rig and to get the first crew to the site by the new vehicles.
The drill rig, the fuel and our working containers were moved from the camp to the actual drilling spot. Paralell two Vestikhot all terrain vehicles from Pevek now make their way to the camp, to support the campaign and ease the 2 km transfer from camp to drilling location. Our working bolok will be just next to the actual rig and is ready for receiving the cores at a working temperature of -5°C.
The last three days we had snow and strong winds in the camp which forced us to stop any outdoor activities. The temperatures decreased further to -26°C. In the next couple of days the ice thickness measurements will continue for the lake drilling campaign. The ice grew 10 cm within the last week to a now existing ice cover of 20 cm. Professionals from EBA will come up in early December to artificially increase the thickness for a safe traverse and a safe spot on the ice to position the lake drilling rig.
Accompanied by great weather the first days in the camp go by. Apart from water sampling we still wait for the final drilling permissions to turn up. The food is good and the drillers are friendly and helpful. A daily working meeting was introduced in the morning to discuss the further proceedings like rig placement, russian drill techniques and best drill diameters for gaining a rather well preserved core..
Yesterday evening we arrived at the camp. The flight in the helicopter offered incredible views on this vast and impressive region here. We started to move our stuff to the boloks (living containers on runners) and hope to start with the drilling as soon as possible.
The last week we were stuck in Pevek after a 50 hour trip to this nice little city due to bad weather and loads of delays. Our group of 7 people is cranked together in a small room but in a good mood. Hopefully today the first group of drillers is flown to the lake and we will follow tomorrow.
