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8/4-15

Position: 85° 17.4' N, 36° 56' W, temperature - 30° C, wind 18 knots from the W. All instruments turned off to save power. Put up the work tent - it is supported by a wooden frame as we have no compressed air at the moment. Successfully recovered the current meter. The generators and winch along with other minor items was packed ready for air drop by the Defense Supply Squadron at Gardermoen.

7/4-15

Position: 85° 17.5' N, 37° 02' W, temperature - 25° C, wind 15 knots from the SW. We received 5 cm of snow and white-out all day. All instruments turned off to save power. E- mail from the Norwegian Defense Operations Headquarter offering a resupply mission on 10 April, alternatively four days later by P3 Orion. Two generators and replacement winch ordered. Checked the radiation flux instrument and removed snow from the IR sensor (up).

6/4-15

Position: 85° 17.5' N, 36° 57' W, temperature - 30° C, wind 10 knots from the NE. All instruments turned off to save power. Continued removing ice at the current meter site and broke through, but slush prevented us from seeing the ice bridges remaining at the bottom the hole - had to give up for the time being. Started putting up the new work space - finished the walls on three sides.

5/4-15

Position: 85° 17.7' N, 36° 57' W, temperature - 32° C, wind 5 knots from the NW.All instruments turned off to save power. Checked battery status. The battery for the engine is 17 volt instead of 28 volt. Service battery for all instruments is 23volt instead of 28. Have four separate 12 volt batteries measuring 11.5 - 12.3 volt. Completed drilling of out the periphery of the hole to recover the current meter and removed the upper 0.8 meter of the ice thickness. IL76 flight and air drop delayed.

4/4-15

Position: 85° 18.0' N, 37° 00' W, temperature - 28° C, wind 5 knots from the NE. All instruments turned off to save power. Started on the new hydro hole - ice thickness is 1.7 meter. Drilled 9 holes down to 1.5 m depth and removed ice blocks down to 1 meter depth. Ice thickness at the current meter site is 1.5 meter. Drilled 14 holes (Ø=10 cm) down to 1.3 meter - need about 10 more holes. Checked radiation flux instruments and cleaned cupolas with pure alcohol to remove thin ice layer. IL76 flight delayed

3/4-15

Position: 85° 18.3' N, 37° 04' W, temperature - 27° C, wind 10 knot from the S. All power systems in the hovercraft turned off except the hot water circulation pump. Pulled up the current meter from 800 meter depth to 30 meter below the ice. Made waffles for the first time on this trip.

2/4-15

Position: 85° 18.4' N, 37° 11' W, temperature - 30° C, wind 15 knots from the NW. White-out all day. Low pressure system over Svalbard is moving slowly eastward. IL76 flight is postponed until Saturday/Sunday. All power systems in the hovercraft turned off except the hot water circulation pump.

1/4-15

Position: 85° 18.5' N, 37° 11' W, temperature - 35° C, beautiful day, calm. All instruments turned off to save power. Pulled the current meter from 1.900 meter depth to 800 meter below the ice. Checked radiation flux instruments and removed ice from the sensor cupola. Check on internet now and then for messages.

31/3-15

Position: 85° 18.8' N, 37° 13' W. All instruments turned off to save power. Moved the weather station and the radiation flux instruments at the new camp site. The fan on the radiation flux sensor will not have power until our generator problem is sorted out. Audun marked N-direction on the ice floe and measured the azimuth of the weather station to be = 354° . Audun also prepared recovery of the current meter at 2.000 meter depth and pulled up the first 100 meter. Made another search for the thermistor string with negative result.

30/3-15

Position: 85° 19.2' N, 37° 15' W, temperature - 32° C, air pressure 1025 hPa, wind 4 knots from the ENE. Ice drift 0.1 knot to the SE. The engine stopped just after midnight while charging batteries. Got it going by bleeding fuel filters. This happened several times in a row. Started searching for the fault. Unrestricted flow in the fuel line, but diesel is dripping from the primer pump. When the engine is running, air is sucked into system via this route. Found a ball valve in my junk box with the right threads and put the valve between the block and the primer pump.

29/3-15

Position: 85° 20.5' N, 37° 26' W, temperature - 32° C, air pressure 1021 hPa, wind 6 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards SE. Finished off preparing the parking area and pulled the craft on place resting on two 4" x 4" pieces of lumber. Moved some equipment items away from the pressure ridge towards the new camp site. Audun refueled the hovercraft.

28/3-15

Position: 85° 22.4' N, 37° 30' W, temperature - 32° C, air pressure 1015 hPa, wind 9 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards S. Woke up at 0530 hours to the sound of fierce ice ridging 100 meter away at the old parking site. To our surprise, the pressure ridge had increased to 3-4 meter high and advanced about 40 meter into our floe from the original crack where the hovercraft used to be parked. We were able to dig out two boxes of food and some equipment items. We then went to search for the thermistor string which had been isolated on another floe to the northwest.

27/3-15

Position: 85° 23.7' N, 37° 24' W, temperature - 31° C, air pressure 1015 hPa, wind 5 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards S. Worked all day clearing equipment and food away from the pressure ridge. The fuel was the first thing to be pumped over to an empty bladder 50 meter away. The radiation flux instrument and the weather station was dismantled at 2000 hours and carried over the pressure ridge to our floe. Intermittent ice ridging had by now consumed the site where the hovercraft had been parked for the last three months. The pressure ridge was 2 meter high and 10 meter wide.

26/3-15

Position: 85° 24.4' N, 37° 24' W, temperature - 34° C, air pressure 1011 hPa, wind 7 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards S. At 0230 hours, we suddenly woke up to the sound of ice ridging - the 100 meter wide lead next to the hovercraft was slowly closing. The 15 cm thick new ice on the lead was now piling up as rubble where the hydro hole was. We started winching while running the engine at maximum power and 50% forward thrust. The hovercraft came slowly up the incline out of the snow pit. The ice activity stopped in the early morning when the lead had narrowed down to 10 meter.

25/3-15

Position: 85° 25.3' N, 37° 26' W, temperature - 34° C, air pressure 1009 hPa, wind 1 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards S. Beautiful day, clear sky and calm. By now the lead next to the hovercraft had widened to about 100 meters. The ice activity was very low. Audun took apart the winch to attempt repair, but windings were cut and burnt - a fatal fault. We have another small winch with

23/3-15

Position: 85° 26.1' N, 38° 04' W, temperature - 34° C, air pressure 1034 hPa, wind 7 knots from the S. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards S. Shooting seismic reflection. The NE-SW running crack c. 50 behind the hovercraft that separated the thermistor string from the rest of the camp widened to c. 20 meter. A parallel crack 50 meter in front of the craft opened and became c. 2 meter wide. But at 1200 hours a new crack between the two cut 3 meter to the side of the hovercraft and separated the tent from the craft. About 20 cm of overwater flooded the ice.

24/3-15

Position: 85° 25.4' N, 37° 49' W, temperature - 31° C, air pressure 1028 hPa, wind 2 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards S. A beautiful day, no wind. We contacted Griffon Hoverworks, Southamton and got an immediate response from a team of engineers including expertise from Deutz, UK. We were able to monitor the hovercraft engine performance using the diagnosis software and e-mail screen shots to UK for scrutiny. From that Deutz, UK engineer J.

22/3-15

Position: 85° 28.4' N, 38° 15' W, temperature - 31° C, air pressure 1030 hPa, wind 2 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.15 knot towards S. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Checked the radiation flux instruments, cleaned IR sensor and removed snow from weather station.

21/3-15

Position: 85° 30.7' N, 38° 22' W, temperature - 35° C, air pressure 1027 hPa, wind 5 knots from the S. Ice drift 0.1 knot to the SE. Had 12 volt supply off from midnight to mid-day as part of checking why our power consumption is so high. The seismic data logging PC with its old battery was the problem - removed the battery and connected the power supply to a 12 volt battery on the engine side. Serviced the air gun and started shooting at 1400 hours. Changed battery on the radiation flux instrument data logger.

19/3-15

Position: 85° 34.4' N, 38° 51' W, temperature - 31° C, air pressure 1041 hPa, wind 10 knots from the W. Ice drift 0.2 knot to the SE. Beautiful day with clear sky and the sun. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Audun made a ski trip to search for bathymetry buoy # 4 and # 5 -located one, but was stopped by a wide lead about 4 km out from our camp. E-mail from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate announcing their support for FRAM-2014/15 with NOK. 1.5 mill.

20/3-15

Position: 85° 32.6' N, 38° 16' W, temperature - 30° C, air pressure 1028 hPa, wind 6 knot from the NW. Ice drift 0.1 knot to the SE. The solar eclipse was hidden by clouds in the beginning and partly covered during the last phase. Shooting seismic reflection all day, but has to stop at 2300 hours due to leaking air gun. Audun changed memory card on the radiation flux instruments. Hauled buoy #2 and two 70 Ahr car batteries out to the buoy site 1.7 km out, but unable to connect up in the cold.

18/3-15

Position: 85° 37.7' N, 39° 45' W, temperature - 36° C, air pressure 1039 hPa, wind 7 knot from the WSW. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards SE. Shooting seismic reflection all day.. Checked radiation flux instruments and weather station - cleaned IR sensor. Audun placed bathymetry buoy # 3 outside for testing with 12 volt supply.

17/3-15

Position: 85° 41.3' N, 40° 21' W, temperature -28° C, air pressure 1022 hPa, wind 3 knots from the W. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards SE. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Large lead opened about 500 meters away to the north of us.

15/3-15

Position: 85° 47.4' N, 42° 05' W, temperature - 31° C, air pressure 991 hPa, wind 10 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.1 knot towards S. Shooting seismic reflection all day. White out and blowing snow. The friendly crack about 55 meter from the craft separating the thermistor string from the rest of the camp widened yesterday to 3 meter and has now narrowed to about 2 meter. It runs 8 meter from the thermistor string and 20 meter from the radiation-flux instruments. The first Jet-A1 drum of fuel for 3 stoves lasted for 11 days.

16/3-15

Position: 85° 42.6' N, 40° 40' W, temperature - 28° C, air pressure 1015 hPa, wind 7 knots from the W. Ice drift 0.2 knot to the E. Shooting seismic reflection all day. We are getting sporadic strong chirp signals disturbing our seismic records. Checked radiation flux instruments - cleaned IR sensor. The crack has closed with minor shear movement. Audun positioned an idling wheel in front of the hovercraft to prepare for pulling out of the snow pit. Spent the day cleaning snow around the hovercraft.

14/3-15

Position: 85° 48.3' N, 42° 03' W, temperature - 31° C, air pressure 1011 hPa, wind 2 knots from the S. Ice drift 0.1 knot to the SE. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Checked radiation flux instruments and weather station and removed snow and frost. Audun went and brought back bathymetry buoy # 3 for check.The crack near the thermistor string has widened to 3 meter

13/3-15

Position: 85° 48.9' N, 42° 12' W, temperature - 29° C, air pressure 1012 hPa, wind 1 knot from the NW. Ice drift 0.0. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Checked radiation flux instruments and cleaned IR (up) and sun time sensors. More work on moving fuel. The fuel consumption needed to get the data acquisition going is a growing concern.

12/3-15

Position: 85° 50.3' N, 42° 35' W, temperature - 26° C, air pressure 1008 hPa, wind 12 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.2 knot to the E. The sky was clear and we saw the sun for the first time this year. The whole disc was a already a couple of degrees above the horizon. Its presence sure makes a difference. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Audun made a ski trip to the nearest bathymetry buoy 1.7 km out for a check on functionality.

11/3-15

Position: 85° 52.2' N, 43° 01' W, temperature - 24° C, air pressure 1006 hPa, wind 16 knot from the NW. Ice drift 0.3 knots towards SE. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Checked radiation flux instruments and weather station - all OK. Moved fuel from storage towards camp by pumping and moving bladders in relay. Cleared snow from the skirt.

10/3-15

Position: 85° 59.6' N, 43° 41' W, temperature -21° C, air pressure 997 hPa, wind 14 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.3 knot towards SE. White-out all day. About 10 cm of snow the last 24 hours. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Checked the radiation flux instruments and sensors were fine.

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