Daily Reports

Position: 87° 22.0' N, 63° 23' W, temperature <- 40° C, air pressure 1012 hPa, wind 14 knots from WSW. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards the east. We put the air box in place and closed all openings between the work space and the hovercraft superstructure. Also connected the Zarges box with the stove. It is very cold today, so in between you often have to go inside and warm up.

Position: 87° 22.0' N, 63° 55' W, temperature - 29° C, air pressure 1012 hPa, wind 17 knots from the south. Ice drift 0.0 knot. We built a new tunnel of plywood to route intake of air to the lift fan from the top of the superstructure and not from the inside of our work space. Audun prepared an aluminum Zarges box to serve as the bay for the diesel stove and an attachment to the existing heat box for the compressor.

Position: 87° 22.1' N, 63° 51' W, temperature - 33° C, air pressure 1022 hPa, wind 12 knots from the east. Ice drift 0.1 towards NNW. We started the small 800 W generator and run it for three hours. Went down to the old camp area, dug out one drum of gasoline and pulled it to the new camp. Checked the radiation flux instruments and cleaned all sensors. Run the small generator again, but it is unable to handle the load from charging the hovercraft batteries. The generator engine runs, but power is lost.

Position: 87° 22.3' N, 63° 46' W, temperature - 24° C, air pressure 1021 hPa, wind 5 knots from the south. Ice drift 0.0 knot. Deployed the thermistor string about 70 meters from the hovercraft. Took down the old generator shack and started to make preparations for rebuilding the heat box for the compressor. Heating would now be by a diesel stove. Fresh tracks of a polar fox were spotted by Audun.

Position: 87° 22.5' N, 63° 47' W, temperature - 30° C, air pressure 1019 hPa, wind 1 knot from the SSW. Ice drift 0.0 knots. Acquiring seismic reflection data until 0815 hours as we were out of air from loss of heat on the compressor. Started work on the generator to see if there was any hope of repair. The engine has to be opened from the generator side and the generator axle is pressed on to the engine drive shaft so special tools would be needed. Further pursuit of repair was considered futile. Audun made a hole for deployment of the thermistor string.

Position: 87° 23.4' N, 63° 57' W, temperature - 32° C, air pressure 1009 hPa, wind 3 knots from the NE. Ice drift 0.1 knots due south. Acquiring seismic reflection data all day. At 2200 hours, the generator suddenly stopped. The cause was loss of compression. Adjustment screw on valve rocker arm broken and valve lifting rod unseated - metal parts came out when the oil was drained. We had two identical 4.5 kW diesel generators and now both are down with the same fatal fault. One generator had over 3.000 hours and the spare only 2 hours before break-down.

Position: 87° 22.8' N, 63° 52' W, temperature - 25° C, air pressure 999 hPa, wind 3 knots from the ESE. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards W. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Audun was occupied with restarting the data loggers for the thermistor string. Checked the radiation flux instruments. Data logger battery is 12.9V, large battery for ventilator is 14.3 V. Cleaned all sensors and also the weather station sensors. A lead, about 200 meter to the north of the camp has been present since we came to this site 1.5 months ago. The lead is now closing

Position: 87° 22.8' N, 63° 57' W, temperature - 18° C, air pressure 1001 hPa, wind 6 knots from the south. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards the northeast. The ice started moving again in the early morning. Started seismic line 2015-13.

Position: 87° 22.7' N, 63° 58' W, temperature - 21° C, air pressure 1021 hPa, wind 14 knots from the E. Ice drift 0.1 knots due south. The ice drift stopped completely during the day. To move 25 meter took more than 5 hours. Acquiring seismic data all day. Had to end seismic line 2014-12 before midnight and reboot the computer.

Position: 87° 23.7' N, 64° 03' W, temperature - 18° C, air pressure 1014 hPa, wind 17 knots from ENE. Ice drift 0.1 towards SSE. Put the air gun back in the water at 0200 hours, but the short section of air hose attached to the gun burst. The gun fired at half a meter depth in the hole and we were soaked and the whole room sprayed with ice water. Changed hose and continued seismic reflection measurements all day.