Daily Reports

Position: 88 50' N, 177 21' E, temperature - 19 C, air pressure 1017 hPa, wind 4 knots from N. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards NNW. Minimum temperature during the night was .26 Centigrades. Started shooting seismic after preheating oil reservoir and compressor. The compressor is kept heated at all times and if we refill air at least every two hours the oil for the pump keeps sufficient temperature without preheating every time it is used. We have now descended the southern rim of the intra-ridge basin and are at the foot of slope.

Position: 87 47.4' N, 177 01' E, temperature - 14 C, air pressure 1020 hPa, wind 6 knots from the NNE. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards NW. Lowered the dredge in 1383 meters of water - put out 2000 meter of line. Kept the dredge out until 1690 meter water depth ten hours later and recovered. The dredge was 1/3 full of brown mud and two fist sized rock specimens; one angular and one rounded. The Knudsen 3.5 kHz echo sounder signal disappeared in the morning. We can hear the trigger signal at all four transducers, but no power. Put in the 12 kHz transducer instead.

Position: 88 44.6' N, 178 26' E, temperature - 15 C, air pressure 1028 hPa, wind 14 knots from N. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards NW. Based on the anticipated hard bottom from the coring attempt and the 3.5 kHz image of the seabed, we lowered the dredge in 2325 meter water depth. Increased ice drift gave a wire angle and during ascent the Kevlar line cut into the side of the hydro hole. When the dredge came up under the ice we could not recover it, but could see that it was empty. We had to cut the line and leave the dredge until time allowed recovery.

Position: 88 39' N, 177 03' E, temperature - 16 C, air pressure 1041 hPa, wind 8 knots from NNW. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards NW. Prepared a small gravity corer for the first coring run to be made. We have so far during the whole 6 weeks on the ice been in water depths beyond the reach of our 3000 m long kevlar line. We passed the 3000 m contour by mid-day. At 1900 hours, the corer hit bottom in 2470 m water depth. It came up with only 5 cm of brown mud behind the core catcher - we must have hit something hard and the 3.5 kHz echo sounder showed a confused pattern of diffraction hyperbolae.

Position: 88 36' N, 176 15' E, temperature - 13 C, air pressure 1038 hPa, wind 3 knots from NNE. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards northnortheast . The 3000 m Kevlar line had so far only been hand spooled onto the take-up drum and left about 150 m of line which did not fit. We had to redo the job, but now with a small weight and all 3000 m in the water. The drum was originally designed to be laid down horizontally in deck to distribute weight, but we started off with using it in a vertical position as spooling became more convenient.

Position: 88 34.5' N, 176 39' W, temperature - 14 C, air pressure 1035 hPa, wind 2 knots from N. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards ENE. Worked on mounting the hydraulics for the winch. The winch and all hoses had to be thawed out. Started calibration run for the string of the sea water temperature loggers, but aborted due to problems with the meter wheel. Had problems with the signal from the 3.5 kHz echo sounder transducer, but the signal came back - the cause of the problem remains unexplained. The water depth is 3988 meter

Position: 87 33.2' N, 176 14' W, temperature - 13 C, air pressure 1035 hPa, wind 4 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards NE. We are 6 nautical miles from the 3000 meter depth contour for Lomonosov Ridge. Audun made a hole 1m x 1 m through the1.5 meter thick ice. We put up and attached the work tent to the hovercraft.Moved geological equipment into the tent. All items were full of ice and snow. A heated box had to be made to thaw out everything.

Position: 87 29.5' N, 175 23' W, temperature - 10 C, air pressure 1023 hPa, wind 10 knots from NNE. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards NNE. Started preparation for moving the hovercraft to a new location. Had to use survival suits because of the water level in the ice/snow building. Backed the hovercraft out from the ice hangar
and parked about 50 meter away on pallets. Noticed sudden loss of lift and established that the lift fan belt was broken. We are now exposed to the wind chill during all work outside the cabin.

Position: 87 26' N, 168 04' W, temperature - 7 C, air pressure 1018 hPa, wind 9 knots from ENE. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards NNE. Worked from midnight to 0900 hours with moving our equipment to the new location. Had dinner at 0900 hours and went to bed at 1200 hours Started again at 1800 hours. Checked radiation flux instruments for snow and ice.

Position: 88 20' N, 176 28' W, temperature - 5 C, air pressure 1003 hPa, wind 3 knots from ESE. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards northeast. The wind calmed down in the morning. Started excavating equipment and food suppplies from the snow drift. Our day has changed a bit; had dinner at 0600 hours and went to bed at 0800 hours. Woke up and started a new day at 1530 hours. Moved equipment and food from the water-logged snow drift to a small ridge about 30 m away.