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10/10-14

Position: 88 50' N, 177 21' E, temperature - 19 C, air pressure 1017 hPa, wind 4 knots from N. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards NNW. Minimum temperature during the night was .26 Centigrades. Started shooting seismic after preheating oil reservoir and compressor. The compressor is kept heated at all times and if we refill air at least every two hours the oil for the pump keeps sufficient temperature without preheating every time it is used. We have now descended the southern rim of the intra-ridge basin and are at the foot of slope.

9/10-14

Position: 87 47.4' N, 177 01' E, temperature - 14 C, air pressure 1020 hPa, wind 6 knots from the NNE. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards NW. Lowered the dredge in 1383 meters of water - put out 2000 meter of line. Kept the dredge out until 1690 meter water depth ten hours later and recovered. The dredge was 1/3 full of brown mud and two fist sized rock specimens; one angular and one rounded. The Knudsen 3.5 kHz echo sounder signal disappeared in the morning. We can hear the trigger signal at all four transducers, but no power. Put in the 12 kHz transducer instead.

8/10-14

Position: 88 44.6' N, 178 26' E, temperature - 15 C, air pressure 1028 hPa, wind 14 knots from N. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards NW. Based on the anticipated hard bottom from the coring attempt and the 3.5 kHz image of the seabed, we lowered the dredge in 2325 meter water depth. Increased ice drift gave a wire angle and during ascent the Kevlar line cut into the side of the hydro hole. When the dredge came up under the ice we could not recover it, but could see that it was empty. We had to cut the line and leave the dredge until time allowed recovery.

7/10-14

Position: 88 39' N, 177 03' E, temperature - 16 C, air pressure 1041 hPa, wind 8 knots from NNW. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards NW. Prepared a small gravity corer for the first coring run to be made. We have so far during the whole 6 weeks on the ice been in water depths beyond the reach of our 3000 m long kevlar line. We passed the 3000 m contour by mid-day. At 1900 hours, the corer hit bottom in 2470 m water depth. It came up with only 5 cm of brown mud behind the core catcher - we must have hit something hard and the 3.5 kHz echo sounder showed a confused pattern of diffraction hyperbolae.

6/10-14

Position: 88 36' N, 176 15' E, temperature - 13 C, air pressure 1038 hPa, wind 3 knots from NNE. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards northnortheast . The 3000 m Kevlar line had so far only been hand spooled onto the take-up drum and left about 150 m of line which did not fit. We had to redo the job, but now with a small weight and all 3000 m in the water. The drum was originally designed to be laid down horizontally in deck to distribute weight, but we started off with using it in a vertical position as spooling became more convenient.

5/10-14

Position: 88 34.5' N, 176 39' W, temperature - 14 C, air pressure 1035 hPa, wind 2 knots from N. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards ENE. Worked on mounting the hydraulics for the winch. The winch and all hoses had to be thawed out. Started calibration run for the string of the sea water temperature loggers, but aborted due to problems with the meter wheel. Had problems with the signal from the 3.5 kHz echo sounder transducer, but the signal came back - the cause of the problem remains unexplained. The water depth is 3988 meter

4/10-14

Position: 87 33.2' N, 176 14' W, temperature - 13 C, air pressure 1035 hPa, wind 4 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards NE. We are 6 nautical miles from the 3000 meter depth contour for Lomonosov Ridge. Audun made a hole 1m x 1 m through the1.5 meter thick ice. We put up and attached the work tent to the hovercraft.Moved geological equipment into the tent. All items were full of ice and snow. A heated box had to be made to thaw out everything.

3/10-14

Position: 87 29.5' N, 175 23' W, temperature - 10 C, air pressure 1023 hPa, wind 10 knots from NNE. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards NNE. Started preparation for moving the hovercraft to a new location. Had to use survival suits because of the water level in the ice/snow building. Backed the hovercraft out from the ice hangar
and parked about 50 meter away on pallets. Noticed sudden loss of lift and established that the lift fan belt was broken. We are now exposed to the wind chill during all work outside the cabin.

2/10-14

Position: 87 26' N, 168 04' W, temperature - 7 C, air pressure 1018 hPa, wind 9 knots from ENE. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards NNE. Worked from midnight to 0900 hours with moving our equipment to the new location. Had dinner at 0900 hours and went to bed at 1200 hours Started again at 1800 hours. Checked radiation flux instruments for snow and ice.

1/10-14

Position: 88 20' N, 176 28' W, temperature - 5 C, air pressure 1003 hPa, wind 3 knots from ESE. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards northeast. The wind calmed down in the morning. Started excavating equipment and food suppplies from the snow drift. Our day has changed a bit; had dinner at 0600 hours and went to bed at 0800 hours. Woke up and started a new day at 1530 hours. Moved equipment and food from the water-logged snow drift to a small ridge about 30 m away.

30/9-14

Position: 88 11.6' N, 179 50' W, temperature - 5 C, air pressure 992 hPa, wind 27-32 knots from E. Ice drift 0.5 knots towards northeast. The water level has risen another 20 cm during the last 24 hours, total change is 45 cm. Increases have been stepwise and during periods of high winds. Snow drifts have formed upwind from the ice hangar with two about 70 meter long ridges (crests at 1.5 m above the ice) on either side and enlarged earlier smaller accumulations.

29/9-14

Position: 87 57.5' N, 175 57' E, temperature - 8 C, air pressure 997 hPa, wind 32 knots from E. Ice drift 0.8 knots towards NNE. Water depth is 3998 meter. Stopped shooting the air gun as the released air did not hit the hole in the ice, but deflected and accumulated somewhere else under the ice. Water level in the hangar has risen 10 cm since yesterday. Have to use the survival suits to be able to move around. Worked to free frozen-in parts of the hovercraft skirt now under water.

28/9-14

Position: 87 51.7' N, 173 59' E, temperature - 10 C, air pressure 1006 hPa, wind 6 knots from SE. Acquiring seismic data. Penetration about 2 km below the seabed over the abyssal plain using the 0.3 litre airgun fired every 25 meter. Audun worked on the bath room.

27/9-14

Position: 87 50.1' N, 173 35' E, temperature - 6 C, air pressure 1006 hPa, wind 3 knots from NE. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards NE. Two centimeter of new snow on the ground. Start up of seismic reflection measurements delayed by intermittent loss of the hydrophone signal. The problem was a defect power plug. At 1640 hours, we were finally acquiring seismic data. Put the generator on styrofoam pads to reduce the acoustic noise transmitted via the ice into the water. Checked radiation flux instrumentation and removed ice from the sun time sensor and snow from the IR-sensor.

26/9-14

Position: 87 47.9' N, 173 39' E, temperature - 8 C, air pressure 1007 hPa, wind 8 knots from ENE.
Contacted old hands with long industry experience from marine seismic surveys. Most suggestions pointed to the solenoid valve which controls air flow, but Einar Gjestrum who last worked with Bolt airguns for GECO about 30 years ago was more specific. It is "O-ring; part number 640", he said, and that was really the problem. When started cold, the belt driven hydraulic

25/9-14

Position: 87 43.9' N, 174 43' E, temperature - 13 C, air pressure 1003 hPa, wind 20 knots from NE. Ice drift 0.3 knots towards NW.
Data logging system running. Discovered hydraulic pump for driving the compressor and winch had blow a seal and hydraulic oil been routed into the main engine. Prepared spare belt driven external pump. When pressure was put on the Bolt PAR airgun before putting in the water, the gun went into auto-fire and would not close. The gun was completely dismantled and all visible o-rings were changed. On the next try, the gun still went into auto fire.

24/9-14

Position: 87 31.5' N, 175 26' E, temperature - 8 C, air pressure 990 hPa, wind22 knots from E. Drifting snow. Ice drift 0.4 knots towards NNE. Wind speeds 30-33 knots in the afternoon and evening. Started preparations for seismic reflection measurements. The compressor needs to be pre-heated and an insulated enclosure had to be made. Worked on getting the data logging system up and had support from Bergen via Iridium to tackle computer communications port allocation issues. Audun worked all day securing the tarp over the ice hangar.

23/9-14

Position: 87 25.9' N, 173 44' E, temperature - 10 C, air pressure 1004 hPa, wind 15 knots from SE. Ice drift 0.4 knots towards NE. Finished the last wall of the bath room and with that all ice hall construction work is finished. Drifting snow and 15-20 knot winds all day. Checked Met.no radiation flux instruments for ice twice during the day.

22/9-14

Position: 87 25.3' N, 171 49' E, temperature - 7 C, air pressure 1007 hPa, wind 7 knots from WSW. Worked all day securing the tarp. Checked radiation flux instruments twice and removed ice.

21/9-14

Position: 87 26.5' N, 171 36' E, temperature - 8 C, air pressure 1030 hPa, wind 4 knots from S. Worked on putting a tarp over the 80 square meter main hangar. We were pleased with the result. Checked radiation flux instruments for ice twice.
Our drift

20/9-14

Position: 87 26.2' N, 171 10' E, temperature - 5 C, air pressure 1030 hPa, wind 2 knots from the S. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards NE. Worked on ice walls for the wash room. Checked radiation flux instrument three times for ice.

19/9-14

Position: 87 23.8' N, 169 45' E, temperature - 6 C, air pressure 1021 hPa, wind 10-14 knots from SE. Ice drift 0.3 knots towards ENE. Started cleaning up after the snow storm. Prepared and moved the hovercraft out of the hangar by using the winch. Pumped fuel from 3 fuel bladders into the long range tanks of the hovercraft, put the bladder on deck and moved to the vicinity of the hangar where the fuel was pumped back into the bladders. Moved 1 ton at a time. The parking stand inside the hangar had sunk and needed to be padded with more 2"x4".

18/9-14

Position: 87 21' N, 168 04' E, temperature - 5 C, air pressure 1015 hPa, wind 20 knots from SSE. Ice drift 0.4 knots towards ENE. Wind increased with gusts reaching 35 knots at 1500 hours and drifting snow, but came down to 18 knots one hour later. Later wind speeds about 20 knots. Removed ice from the radiation flux instruments twice during the day. Covered the new generator room with a tarp and tore down the old small shed.

17/9-14

Position: 87 20' N, 164 13' E, temperature - 14 C, air pressure 1020 hPa, wind 8 knots from SE. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards East. Two walls on the wash room nearly completed. Moved the generator into the new generator room. Winds increased during the evening and by 1800 hours we stopped because of blowing snow.

16/9-14

Position: 87 21.1' N, 163 50' E, temperature - 10 C, air pressure 1018 hPa, wind 7 knots from SW. White-out. Ice drift 0.2 knots due East. North and east wall of storage room completed.

15/9-14

Position: 87 22.9' N, 161 41' E, temperature - 5 C, air pressure 1014 hPa, wind 10 knots from NNE. Worked all day cutting ice blocks and building the storage room. Hovercraft skirt segments were partly frozen in and had to be freed and strapped up.
Radiation instrument checked twice for icing and IR skin temperature sensor brought in for cleaning and mounted back again.

14/9-14

Position: 87 19.0' N, 161 49' E, temperature - 15 C, air pressure 1017 hPa, wind 5 knots from ENE. Sunshine from a cloud-free sky in the morning. After lunch, fog and white- out. The ice drift is 0.2 knots towards NE. Completed ice wall on port side. Started on ice walls for the storage room on starboard side. Visited the weather station and the rad-flux instruments three times during the day to remove hoar frost from the sensors. Audun turned 42 years today. The event was celebrated with rump steak for dinner followed apple cake at coffee/tea.

13/9-14

Position: 87 16.9' N, 160 13' E, temperature - 6 C, air pressure 1019 hPa, wind 1 knot from SSW, fog. Completed the front ice wall and half of the forward wall on the port side. Visited the weather station and the rad-flux instruments twice during the day to remove hoar frost from the sensors.

12/9-14

Position: 87 19.0' N, 159 21' E, temperature - 10 C, air pressure 1007 hPa, wind 5 knots from SSW. Completed the long ice wall and three layers on the front wall. The 3.5 kHz signal weakened and "disappeared" about midnight and came in strong about noon. We must have passed a basement peak protruding out of the Makarov abyssal plan - a feature not shown on the IBCAO map.

11/9-14

Position: 87 21.7' N, 158 11' E, temperature - 4 C, air pressure 999 hPa, wind 11 knots from W. Overcast and white-out. Cleared later in the day and temperature fell to - 13 C. The hovercraft is tilting 2 degrees forward from melting of the ice below the cabin part of the hull. Started the engine and put the craft on the columns in order to position reinforced pallets as far forward and towards the rear as possible. Started work on long ice wall on starboard side.

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