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8/5-15

Position: 84° 11.3' N, 17° 59' W, temperature - 14° C, pressure 1032 hPa, wind 6 knots from the SSE. Sun from a clear sky all day. Ice drift 0.0 knot. Deployed the hydrophone for the sparker buoy. Got the control electronics checked out OK, but the sparker energy source kept blowing a fuse and the problem was not found. A more permanent location inside the work space was made for the generator.

6/5-15

Position: 84° 13.2' N, 18° 09' W, temperature - 15° C, 1024 hPa, wind 6 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.2 knots to the SE. Sunshine from a clear sky all day. Audun went back to the site of buoy #1 and connected up the batteries. The old ones measured 5.5 V and 7.2 V, respectively. Removed the heat enclosure from the compressor and tidied up. Moved the sparker buoy into the work tent. Audun rechecked the radiation flux data logger and rebooted the program. Making pictures of the scattering layer.

7/5-15

Position: 84° 11.8' N, 17° 59' W, temperature - 16° C, air pressure 1029 hPa, wind 2 knots from the W. White-out from 0900 hours. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards the SE. Cleared the workspace from its connection to the hovercraft - only generator power line attached. Connected up the sparker buoy.

5/5-15

Position: 84° 18.3' N, 18° 42' W, temperature - 17° C, 1021 hPa, wind 14 knot knots from the NW. A clear day. Ice drift 0.2 knot towards SE. Audun restarted data logger on radiation flux instrument. He also made a ski trip with batteries to bathymetry buoy # 1 at 4.7 km out from our camp, but was missing a tool to complete the job.

4/5-15

Position: 84° 23.3' N, 19° 15' W, temperature - 18° C, 1025 hPa, wind 17 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.2 towards SE. At 1600 hours, our seismic program had come to the end. Stopped data acquisition and pulled the air gun out of the water - last field file is # 40370. Take screen shot of the 50/200 kHz echosounder at least at local noon and local midnight.

3/5-15

Position: 84° 42.7' N, 20° 43' W, , temperature - 13° C, air pressure 1035 hPa, wind 22 knots from the W. White-out all day, but the sun became visible at 1700 hours. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Deployed the dredge in 1400 meter water depth over the southeastern edge of the spur. When recovered six hours later, the first few hundred meters of Kevlar line near the dredge was a mess and the dredge was empty. With this our geological sampling program on FRAM- 2014/15 came to an end. Audun visited bathymetry buoy #1 about 1.7 km out.

2/5-15

Position: 84° 29.0' N, 19° 46' W, temperature - 9° C, air pressure 1026 hPa, wind 6 knots from the NE. White-out all day. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards SE. Continue shooting seismic reflection.

1/5-15

Position: 84° 30.3' N, 19° 53' W, temperature - 11° C, pressure 1027 hPa, wind 4 knots from the NE. White-out all day. Ice drift 0.0 knot. Continue shooting seismic reflection. Recovered a short sediment core from 820 meter depth at the EE edge of the top of the spur. Reorganized our stock of eggs. Those that were closest to the outer wall in the flotation tank had been frozen and were cracked and had to be disposed of. About 120 out of 400 eggs left.

30/4-15

Position: 84° 32.2' N, 19° 54' W, temperature - 217° C, air pressure 1030 hPa, wind 14 knots from the NW. White-out all day. Ice drift 0.2 knot towards the SE. Shooting seismic reflection measurements all day. Dredge on the bottom 0340-1300 hours - returned only small angular fragment of lightly metamorphosed shist. Camera sled on the bottom from 1400 to 1840 hours. Saw small sand volcano adjacent to opening of two orifices in the bottom. Pumped fuel from the only bladder in camp to the rear tank which became 3/4 full.

29/4-15

Position: 84° 36.7' N, 20° 14' W, temperature - 14° C, 1030 hPa, wind 13 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.1 knots to the SE. White-out all day. Shooting seismic reflection measurements all day. Recovered a short sediment core. Camera sled at the bottom 1230-1530 hours. Observed six fishes and small holes which may have been formed by venting of fluids. Also in places broken pieces of crust of light colored sediment. Deployed the dredge for two hours, but returned empty. Made screen shot of 50/200 kHz echo sounder every six hours.

28/4-15

Position: 84° 38.5' N, 20° 27' W, temperature - 14° C, 1035 hPa, wind 8 knot knots from the NNW. White-out. Ice drift 0.0 knots. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Had the generator running all day to get hot water for a shower and washing clothes. Put down the 50 kHz and 200 kHz transducer to look for scattering layers in the upper 2-300 meters of the water column. Saw a pronounced layer at about 50 meter depth.

27/4-15

Position: 84° 39.1' N, 20° 30' W, temperature - 11° C, 1039 hPa, wind 12 knots from the N. White- out. Ice drift 0.0 . Shooting seismic reflection all day. Audun built anenclosure of ice blocks to protect the frozen food from the sun. Moved in most of the frozen stuff. Checked the radiation flux instrument - everything OK.

26/4-15

Position: 84° 42.7' N, 20° 43' W, , temperature - 13° C, air pressure 1035 hPa, wind 22 knots from the W. White-out all day. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Audun remeasured reference directions. The hovercraft is pointing in the direction of 241°. Azimuth of North-direction for the weather station and the radiation flux instrument is now 013°. The camera sled deployed in 1000 meter water depth. Audun visited bathymetry buoy "1 about 1.7 km out. Only minor evidence of recent ice activity near the site. Airgun was leaking and serviced.

25/4-15

Position: 84° 48.8' N, 21° 42' W, temperature - 15° C, air pressure 1040 hPa, wind 28 knots from the W. Ice drift 0.4 knot towards SE. hooting seismic reflection all day. One short sediment core recovered from 1.630 meter water depth. The camera sled at the bottom from 1730 to 2030 hours. Put an eight kilo weight on the Kevlar to weigh it down and prevent the sled to lift off bottom. One bluish fish observed.

24/4-15

Position: 84° 52.3' N, 22° 26' W, temperature - 14° C, pressure 1039 hPa, wind 23 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.4 knot towards ESE. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Recovered on short sediment core from 1.750 m water depth. Moved the radiation flux-instrument mast 20 meter towards the weather station because the large snow drift behind our work space was approaching the site.The weather has improved slightly so Audun removed the outside day tank for heating fuel for inspection. The fuel outlet had ice up. Cleaned the tank and we were back to normal.

23/4-15

Position: 85° 00.5' N, 23° 32' W, temperature - 20° C, air pressure 1029 hPa, wind 24 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.4 knot towards the SE. Shooting seismic reflection measurements all day. Recovered two short sediment cores in 1.160 and 1.700 meter water depth, respectively. The camera sled at the bottom 1415- 1700 hours.

22/4-15

Position: 85° 07.8' N, 24° 22' W, temperature - 22° C, 1016 hPa, wind 18 knots from the W. Ice drift 0.4 knots to the ESE. White-out all day. Shooting seismic reflection measurements. Camera sled at the bottom 1845-2130 hours. Side drag in the kevlar line during the fast drift cause the sled to lift off bottom.

21/4-15

Position: 85° 12.5' N, 26° 10' W, temperature - 19° C, 1010 hPa, wind 25-30 knot knots from the SW. Ice drift 0.5 knot towards E. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Recovered one short sediment core in 1.340 meter water depth and made one camera sled deployment in 1.430 meter water depth. Observed two large fishes in the video from the seabed.

20/4-15

Position: 85° 14.5' N, 27° 25' W, temperature - 22° C, 1009 hPa, wind 26 knots from the W. Ice drift 0.4 knot towards E . Shooting seismic reflection all day. Audun changed memory card and battery on the radiation flux instrument. Battery was 12.2 volt, but only data for 21-24 March on the card. The stoves in the cabin went out before noon, and the temperature fell to below +10°. The problem was a valve in the the primer pump. Had to improvise a temporary solution with a 20 liter diesel tank inside.

19/4-15

Position: 85° 21.2' air pressure 993 hPa,N, 30° 14' W, temperature - 15° C, wind 30-45 knots from the NW. Gusts to over 50 knots during the night. Ice drift 0.8 knot due E. The wind came down to 20-25 knot at noon. Started seismic shooting at 2200 hours.

18/4-15

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

17/4-15

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.

16/4-15

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.

15/4-15

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.

14/4-15

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.

13/4-15

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.

12/4-15

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

11/4-15

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.

10/4-15

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.

9/4-15

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.

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