Daily Reports

Position: 86° 08.8' N, 45° 38' W, temperature - 38° C, air pressure 1014 hPa, wind 6 knots from the SE. Ice drift 0.1 towards E. No ice drift and the seismic gear on standby. Removed the snow and freed the skirt on the starboard side and jacked up 12 centimeter. Put a tarp under the hovercraft below the front 1/3 of the length of the craft. Checked the radiation flux instruments. The fan is not running at the moment because of insufficient battery capacity.

Position: 86° 08.1' N, 45° 47' W, temperature - 29° C, air pressure 1013 hPa, wind 15 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.0 knot. No ice drift and the seismic gear on standby. Prepared for jacking up the hovercraft, disconnected from the work space and raised the starbord side of the hull 10 centimeter..

Position: 86° 08.7' N, 45° 48' W, temperature - 38° C, air pressure 1022 hPa, wind 6 knot from the NE. Ice drift 0.0 knots. Operating the seismic reflection gear, but no ice drift. Removed the snow and freed the skirt on the port side of the hovercraft. Audun dismounted the wind mill support.

Position: 86° 09.9' N, 45° 47' W, temperature -27° C, air pressure 996 hPa, wind 10 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.2 knot towards SW. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Serviced the air gun and reamed the hydro hole. Lowered the current meter suspended at 660 meter depth back to its original 2.000 meter depth. Today is a clear day and sufficient light so we can work outside without the need for a head lamp.

Position: 86° 13.7' N, 46° 03' W, temperature - 31° C, air pressure 1002 hPa, wind 13 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.3 knot to the SE. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Blowing snow. The snow drift is level with the top of our work space and we have problems getting in.

Position: 86° 18.2' N, 46° 33' W, temperature -29° C, air pressure 1003 hPa, wind 9 knots from NW. Ice drift 0.3 knots towards SE. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Started jacking up the hovercraft to free it from the snow. To get it free will be a major job which from now on will have first priority.

Position: 86° 23.5' N, 47° 54' W, temperature - 27° C, air pressure 1009 hPa, wind 16 knots from the W. Ice drift 0.4 knot to the SE. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Continued testing the small 800 W generator. Started preparations for jacking up the hovercraft to get out of the snow drift. The hovercraft has been sitting on two 2" x 2" planks since beginning of December and held up very well. This is in strong contrast to what we experienced in September and October where the keel was constantly sinking in the relatively warm ice.

Position: 86° 29.8' N, 49° 39' W, temperature - 32° C, air pressure 1015 hPa, wind 12 knots from the W. Ice drift 0.3 towards SE. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Deployed the camera sled in 2.080 meter water depth. Another observation of a fish.

Position: 86° 32.2' N, 50° 11' W, temperature - 33° C, air pressure 1013 hPa, wind 10 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.2 knot to the SE. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Our internal WiFi-network which distributes the GPS-signal to the different logging systems was down for about one hour. Audun continued exploring our small 800 W generator which will take a heavy load such as the grinder (600 W) , but not a small load such as battery chargers. The key is adjustment of the revolutions pr. minute. Also the wind mill stopped, the problem being the shaft ball bearing gets locked.

Position: 86° 37.2' N, 50° 28' W, temperature - 26° C, air pressure 1005 hPa, wind 11 knot from the NW. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards SE. Shooting seismic reflection all day. CTD cast down to 2.400 meter in 2.500 meter water depth. Each run takes about 3 hours with the hovercraft engine running. We have to conserve fuel and will stop making CTD casts from now on. We have obtained a transect with 13 casts over the Lomonosov Ridge. Blowing snow in the evening. Audun discovered a small crack running parallel to the hovercraft about 3 meters away.