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7/6-15

Position: 83° 15.8' N, 14° 45' W, wind 7 knots from the SE. Ice drift 0.1 knot to the ESE. Made CTD cast down to 800 meter as winch did not function properly. Checked radiation flux instrument - battery 12.07 volt. Checked floation tanks in the cabin for water from condensation - emptied 6 liter out of the tank below the work bench. Audun went for a ski trip. Two Ivory gulls over the camp in the evening. The crack behind the hovercraft has widened to 0.5 meter.

6/6-15

Position: 83° 19.5' N, 15° 15.7' W. Ice drift 0.3 knot towards the SE. A glorious day. The AirMar weather station on the hovercraft went down. Made a CTD cast to 1000 meter depth. Went out on skis and on foot to bathymetry buoy #2 , 1.7 km out. The buoy was located in a 50 meter wide flat area surrounded by a maze of pressure ridges. We drilled a 15 cm diam. Inspection hole through 2.5 meter thick ice and checked with the underwater camera. The hydrophone cable was hooked and the hydrophone recovered by cutting the cable.

5/6-15

Position: 83° 23.4' N, 15° 36.7' W, temperature - 5 °C, pressure 1015 hPa, wind 23 knots from the NNW. Ice drift 0.3 knot towards the S. Made a CTD cast down to 1000 meter depth. Finished transfer of all logs to Exel format. Discovered a band of 3 parallel cracks trending NW_SE across our floe. Hovercraft azimuth is 240 degrees. One of the cracks is right behind the stern skirt, and one crack separates the craft from the radiation flux instrument and the weather station. Cracks are 10 cm wide.

4/6-15

Position: 83° 31.95' N, 16° 06.9' W, temperature - 5 °C, air pressure 1018 hPa, wind 32 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.3 knot towards SSE. Deployed the Syquest echo sounder of the autonomous buoy made by Chr. Michelsen Research to obtain bathymetry from the camp site. Iridium transmission was deactivated and recording is on internal memory with a 10 minute repetition rate. Made two CTD casts down to 1000 meter.

3/6-15

Position: 83° 39.7' N, 16° 24' W, temperature - 3 °C, 1022 hPa, wind 22 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.3 knot to the SSE. Worked on the weekly report.

2/6-15

Position: 83° 44.15' N, 16° 24.7' W, temperature - 3 °C, 1030 hPa, wind 6 knot knots from the ENE. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards the S. Downloaded data for the last month from the radiation flux instrument. Hovercraft maintenance all day. A snow bunting was found dead - we had noticed the bird seemed to be physically reduced during the last few days.

1/6-15

Position: 83° 44.8' N, 16° 18' W, temperature - 6 °C, 1028 hPa, wind 9 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.1 towards W. Checked the radiation flux instrument and the weather station. Deployed our Aanderaa SeaGuard current to 150 meter depth in the hydro hole to record for the rest of the drift. Audun recovered the Finnish mass balance buoy which had stopped working. The buoy was located in the old camp area. Burned all remaining garbage in the old camp area. Two Ivory gulls came by our site today.

31/5-15

Position: 83° 43.2' N, 16° 08' W, , temperature - 5° C, air pressure 1023 hPa, wind 6 knots from the SE. Ice drift 0.1 knot to the W. The northwestward drift is very disappointing and the weather forecast suggests this will go on until Tuesday next week.

30/5-15

Position: 83° 41.6' N, 15° 48' W, temperature - 5° C, air pressure 1019 hPa, wind 12 knots from the SE. Ice drift 0.2 knot towards the NW. Checked the radiation flux instrument. Data logger voltage 12.6 volt. Checked weather station - battery is 10.3 volt.

29/5-15

Position: 83° 39.4' N, 15° 31' W, temperature - 9° C, pressure 1028 hPa, wind 5 knots from the SE. Overcast and low light contrast of the ice surface. The Danish Air Force 5954 Challenger coastal surveillance plane came overheat at 1545 GMT and dropped a parachute from 60 meter height. We received resupply of antifreeze and spares for hovercraft radiator, spare swords for the chain saw and battery for one of the laptops. A thank you note was dispatched to the Danish Arctic Command expressing our appreciation for the service rendered.

28/5-15

Position: 83° 39.7' N, 15° 32.5' W, temperature - 9° C, air pressure 1025 hPa, wind 6 knots from the SE. Ice drift 0.0. Checked the radiation flux instrument. Data logger had stopped and battery voltage 3.7 volt. Changed battery and restarted logger. Deployed the underwater camera into the scattering layer - first at 22 meter depth and then at 55 meter depth. Abundant activity, but no good images captured beyond what we already have.

27/5-15

Position: 83° 39.7' N, 15° 32' W, temperature - 7° C, 1030 hPa, wind 4 knots from the SE. Ice drift 0.1 knot to the SE. Made a CTD cast down to 1000 meter. Returned to the thermistor site. Got the thermistor positioned vertically in the access hole so we could use the hovercraft winch to pull the Kevlar up and the mooring wire out of the ice. Everything came out with no damage. Drove back to camp. Had a shower in the sauna. The generator had to run all day to get enough water from melting snow.

26/5-15

Position: 83° 41.1' N, 15° 38' W, temperature - 10° C, 1025 hPa, wind 5 knot knots from the E. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards the SE. Went back towards the mooring site, but the hovercraft got stuck on an ice ridge underway. Had to jack the craft up to remove the ice ridge. Came loose, but got stuck two more times in ice rubble and had to use the winch to get out. . Drove back to camp in the evening

25/5-15

Position: 83° 42.7' N, 15° 48' W, temperature - 10° C, 1016 hPa, wind 10 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.2 towards SE. Drove the hovercraft out to the site of the thermistor string mooring. Found the top of the mooring under an ice block at the edge of the pressure ridge. Drillen an access hole 40 cm away and hooked on to the string and pulled it up. Got everything up on the ice except thermistor # 1. Drove back to camp for the night.

24/5-15

Position: 83° 47.7' N, 16° 08' W, , temperature - 12° C, air pressure 1013 hPa, wind 13 knots from the WSW. Ice drift 0.3 knot to the SE. Poor visibility in the morning, but clear sky most of the day. Made a CTD cast down to 1000 meter.

23/5-15

Position: 83° 50.0' N, 16° 12' W, temperature - 13° C, air pressure 1005 hPa, wind 12 knots from the ESE. A beautiful day. Replaced the full data storage on the weather station. The display on the replacement cartridge is blurred and unreadable. Battery voltage was 7.35 volt. Added two D-cells to get 10.3 volt out. Drove the hovercraft to the location of the displaced thermistor string. The mooring was separated from camp by a shear zone only a meter or two away and displaced over 150 meter to the east.

22/5-15

Position: 83° 50.9' N, 16° 06' W, temperature - 7° C, pressure 1019 hPa, wind 5 knots from the NW. Drove over to the current meter site and continued the search. The current meter suspended at 800 meter depth is lost. Moved over to the ADCP mooring. Drilled a hole 7 meter from the mooring, but did not reach through. Made it through 2 m. thick ice 10 meter away. Lowered the camera, but no sign of an instrument. This is in a pressure ridge and even if we could spot the ADCP, we probably would not have been able to recover it. Moved the last

21/5-15

Position: 83° 51.7' N, 16° 14.4' W, temperature - 11° C, air pressure 1019 hPa, wind 4 knots from the NW. Clear sky - a beautiful day. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards the SE. We loaded the hovercraft and drove over to the current meter mooring. Drilled all together five holes and inspected the underside of the ice with the underwater camera. Much to our surprise, there was no trace of the kevlar line coming out of the ice. Returned to camp.

20/5-15

Position: 83° 52.7' N, 16° 25' W, temperature - 11° C, 1021 hPa, wind 11 knots from the SW. Ice drift 0.2 knots to the SE. Beautiful weather all day, but reduced visibility in the late evening. Made a CTD cast down to 1000 meter. Audun made a ski trip and recovered bathymetry buoy #1 from 4.3 km out. He also spotted two Ivory gulls on the way. Washed part of the superstructure that had deposits from the stove pipe accumulated through the winter. Also cleaned the deck around the compressor.

19/5-15

Position: 83° 58.2' N, 16° 37' W, temperature - 14° C, 1016 hPa, wind 15 knot knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.3 knot towards the S. The camera was lowered to 22 meter. The field of view was straight downwards, but did not capture any life in the two hours of recording. Made a CTD cast down to 1000 meter depth.

18/5-15

Position: 84° 01.5' N, 16° 40' W, temperature - 8° C, 1014 hPa, wind 3 knots from the SW. Ice drift 0.2 towards SE. Put up a 12 hour time-lapse of the echo sounder screen. Checked the radiation flux instrument. Removed the cover and insulation mats from the hovercraft superstructure, and mobilized the craft for departure. Just after getting off the parking ramp a loud rattling noise was heard. The starboard brace which hold the propeller duct had come loose and the threads of the adjusting eye-bolt had been pulled out. Propeller blades were hitting the duct at the top inside.

17/5-15

Position: 84° 04.1' N, 17° 20' W, , temperature - 12° C, air pressure 1016 hPa, wind 16 knots from the WSW. Ice drift 0.3 knot to the SE. Poor visibility before lunch, improved later. Deployed the camera at 36 meter depth for 2.5 hours, but no good images obtained. Completed transfer of the seismic log to an Exel sheet.

16/5-15

Position: 84° 08.8' N, 18° 07' W, temperature - 14° C, air pressure 1015 hPa, wind 17 knots from the N. Poor visibility all day. Ice drift 0.3 knot towards SE. Mounted new lights on the camera rig. Made tests of time-lapse photography of the echo sounder screen. Continued transferred of the sesmic log to an Exel-sheet.

15/5-15

Position: 84° 11.3' N, 18° 15' W, temperature - 15° C, pressure 1014 hPa, wind 11 knots from the N. Poor visibility, but not quite white-out. Ice drift 0.0 knot. Camera down for 2.5 hours at 55 meter depth. A number of useful passages of copepods, polar cod and others. Audun attempted a ski trip to look for the missing bathymetry buoys, but aborted due to poor visibility. Continued transferred of the sesmic log to an Exel-sheet.

14/5-15

Position: 84° 11.2' N, 18° 13.5' W, temperature - 15° C, air pressure 1018 hPa, wind 7 knots from the NE. White-out. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards the NE. Checked the radiation flux instrument. Continued transferred of the sesmic log to an Exel-sheet.

13/5-15

Position: 84° 10.8' N, 18° 07.4' W, temperature - 16° C, 1017 hPa, wind 6 knots from the E. Ice drift 0.1 knots to the NE. Poor visibility all day, but not full white-out conditions. Prepared the hovercraft for a drive by i) clearing snow and ice accumulated between the inner and outer skirt, ii) clearing the decks and iii) remove the snow from behind to form a passage for re-entering our present parking position. Checked the radiation flux instruments and data logger. Received an e-mail from the Danish group operating the new Villum Research Station at St.

12/5-15

Position: 84° 10.5' N, 18° 02' W, temperature - 16° C, 1016 hPa, wind 4 knot knots from the SE. A clear day before lunch, white-out afterwards. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards NE. New attempt to figure out the problem with the sparker energy source, no success. Lowered the camera to 36 meter depth in the scattering layers. No good close-up images of zoo-plankon. Taking pictures of the echo sounder screen every 6 hours to capture the activity in the scattering layer.

11/5-15

Position: 84° 10.1' N, 18° 00' W, temperature - 12° C, 1024 hPa, wind 3 knots from the SE. Ice drift 0.0. Cleared a passage through a pressure ridge for driving to the old camp. Audun revisited the 2014 camp for photo documentation of changes.

10/5-15

Position: 84° 10.3' N, 18° 01' W, , temperature - 15° C, air pressure 1027 hPa, wind 8 knots from the NW. White-out all day. Ice drift 0.0 knot. Audun moved a Jet A-1 drum to camp to be used for heating. An ice house for storage of food was expanded. A snow bunting suddenly touched down on the roof of the hovercraft at 1532 hours. Rather than restitute and stock up on food in our camp, the bird left after just a few minutes.

9/5-15

Position: 84° 10.9' N, 18° 00' W, temperature - 14° C, air pressure 1030 hPa, wind 5 knots from the S. Sunshine from a clear sky all day. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards ESE. Audun went on skies to search for bathymetry buoy # 4 and # 5, but did not find any. Worked on the sparker buoy to look for shorted connections. Made a frame for mounting the camera and underwater light source in an effort to see of we may be able to get video of the life forms that make up the scattering layer in the upper 150 meter below the ice.

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