Daily Reports

Position: 87 26.2' N, 171 10' E, temperature - 5 C, air pressure 1030 hPa, wind 2 knots from the S. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards NE. Worked on ice walls for the wash room. Checked radiation flux instrument three times for ice.

Position: 87 23.8' N, 169 45' E, temperature - 6 C, air pressure 1021 hPa, wind 10-14 knots from SE. Ice drift 0.3 knots towards ENE. Started cleaning up after the snow storm. Prepared and moved the hovercraft out of the hangar by using the winch. Pumped fuel from 3 fuel bladders into the long range tanks of the hovercraft, put the bladder on deck and moved to the vicinity of the hangar where the fuel was pumped back into the bladders. Moved 1 ton at a time. The parking stand inside the hangar had sunk and needed to be padded with more 2"x4".

Position: 87 21' N, 168 04' E, temperature - 5 C, air pressure 1015 hPa, wind 20 knots from SSE. Ice drift 0.4 knots towards ENE. Wind increased with gusts reaching 35 knots at 1500 hours and drifting snow, but came down to 18 knots one hour later. Later wind speeds about 20 knots. Removed ice from the radiation flux instruments twice during the day. Covered the new generator room with a tarp and tore down the old small shed.

Position: 87 20' N, 164 13' E, temperature - 14 C, air pressure 1020 hPa, wind 8 knots from SE. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards East. Two walls on the wash room nearly completed. Moved the generator into the new generator room. Winds increased during the evening and by 1800 hours we stopped because of blowing snow.

Position: 87 21.1' N, 163 50' E, temperature - 10 C, air pressure 1018 hPa, wind 7 knots from SW. White-out. Ice drift 0.2 knots due East. North and east wall of storage room completed.

Position: 87 22.9' N, 161 41' E, temperature - 5 C, air pressure 1014 hPa, wind 10 knots from NNE. Worked all day cutting ice blocks and building the storage room. Hovercraft skirt segments were partly frozen in and had to be freed and strapped up.
Radiation instrument checked twice for icing and IR skin temperature sensor brought in for cleaning and mounted back again.

Position: 87 19.0' N, 161 49' E, temperature - 15 C, air pressure 1017 hPa, wind 5 knots from ENE. Sunshine from a cloud-free sky in the morning. After lunch, fog and white- out. The ice drift is 0.2 knots towards NE. Completed ice wall on port side. Started on ice walls for the storage room on starboard side. Visited the weather station and the rad-flux instruments three times during the day to remove hoar frost from the sensors. Audun turned 42 years today. The event was celebrated with rump steak for dinner followed apple cake at coffee/tea.

Position: 87 16.9' N, 160 13' E, temperature - 6 C, air pressure 1019 hPa, wind 1 knot from SSW, fog. Completed the front ice wall and half of the forward wall on the port side. Visited the weather station and the rad-flux instruments twice during the day to remove hoar frost from the sensors.

Position: 87 19.0' N, 159 21' E, temperature - 10 C, air pressure 1007 hPa, wind 5 knots from SSW. Completed the long ice wall and three layers on the front wall. The 3.5 kHz signal weakened and "disappeared" about midnight and came in strong about noon. We must have passed a basement peak protruding out of the Makarov abyssal plan - a feature not shown on the IBCAO map.

Position: 87 21.7' N, 158 11' E, temperature - 4 C, air pressure 999 hPa, wind 11 knots from W. Overcast and white-out. Cleared later in the day and temperature fell to - 13 C. The hovercraft is tilting 2 degrees forward from melting of the ice below the cabin part of the hull. Started the engine and put the craft on the columns in order to position reinforced pallets as far forward and towards the rear as possible. Started work on long ice wall on starboard side.