Daily Reports

Position: 85° 20.9' N, 33° 35' W, temperature - 20° C, ir pressure 995 hPa, wind 22 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.4 knot towards E. The low pressure has arrived and we have a

Position: 85° 19.7' N, 35° 54' W, temperature - 23° C, pressure 994 hPa, wind 13 knots from the SW. Ice drift 0.5 knot towards E. Worked on the hydro hole to get the final break through at the bottom. The ice thickness is 1.8 meter. Also repaired the hydrophone cable - the first 6 meter of wire was broken several places and is not fit for the low temperature. The 333 Squadron has kindly made available video footage of the FRAM-2014/15 camp area to John K. Hall.

Position: 85° 20.1' N, 37° 13' W, temperature - 12° C, air pressure 988 hPa, wind 5 knots from the NW.White-out all day. Ice drift 0.5 knot towards NW. We have moved 6.5 nautical miles to the NW during the night. Checked the radiation flux instruments and removed snow from the IR (up) sensor. A warm spell is here and we worked all day removing c. 2 cm thick layer of ice from the outer walls of the flotation tanks inside the cabin. Refilled some antifreeze and the radiator leak seem to be contained.

Position: 85° 16.8' N, 36° 13' W, temperature - 17° C, wind 10 knots from the NE. Ice drift 0.1 knots to the NE. We received 3 cm of snow during the night. White-out all day. We had a warm spell in the late evening and early morning of the next day where the temperature reached - 4° C. Checked radiation flux instruments and removed snow from the IR (up) sensor. Discovered a leak in the radiator. After checking and consultation with Griffon Hoverworks, it was determined to be a leaking gasket between two sections of the radiator rather than frost damage to the cooling ribs.

Position: 85° 16.4' N, 36° 12' W, temperature - 20° C, 1002 hPa, wind 7 knots from the NE. No ice drift. Checked the radiation flux instrument and removed snow from the IR sensor (up). Adapted the foot plate from the old winch to fit the new winch. Audun brought half a drum of Jet-A1 to camp. We also uncovered the sediment corers stored at the old camp. Our reserve of diesel is about 2.000 liters plus about 950 liter of Jet-A1 for heating.

Position: 85° 16.4' N, 36° 11' W, temperature - 21° C, 1007 hPa, wind 4 knots from the NW. No ice drift. Audun went to look for bathymetry buoy # 1 and found it 4.7 km out from camp. Worked on the weekly report.

Position: 85° 16.4' N, 36° 11' W, temperature - 19° C, wind 4 knots from the NW. One centimeter of new snow during the night. Ice drift zero. Started the engine - waited until today since it has not been run for nearly two weeks and temperatures have been below - 30° C. We are mobile again. Continued work getting the work space ready

Position: 85° 16.9' N, 36° 07' W, temperature - 32° C, wind 7 knots from the NW. Restarted navigation data logging. The Honda 20i generator is run every three hours for 30 minutes and starts willingly in the low temperature. Recovered all markings from the drop zone. Replaced the faulty primer pump in the diesel line of the hovercraft engine. Continued work on getting the work space ready.

Position: 85° 17.4' N, 36° 02' W, temperature - 32° C, wind 3 knots from the SW. All instruments turned off to save power. Marked a 300 m long drop zone on the remaining part of the floe which we occupied up until end of November 2014. The P3 Orion overhead at 1620 hours. Dropped four parachutes with generators and winch and then 6 cartons by free fall. The drop was rounded off by a photo pass and ended by 1800 hours. Everything was received in good order. Collected all air dropped items, unpacked and started one generator for charging the hovercraft batteries.

Position: 85° 17.9' N, 36° 19' W, temperature - 32° C, wind 5 knots from the NW. All instruments turned off to save power. Moved the Kevlar drum into the work tent. Rolled up 1000 m Kevlar line and brought it back to the new camp. Received information that everything was ready for the planned air drop.