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Daily Reports

8/1-15

Position: 87° 27.9' N, 64° 12' W, temperature - 32° C, air pressure 1006 hPa, wind 34 knots from NE. Ice drift 0.3 knots towards SSW. Shooting seismic reflection all day. The air gun stopped trigging around midnight - serviced the solenoid again.

7/1-15

Position: 87° 34.4' N, 63° 23' W, temperature - 24° C, air pressure 1008 hPa, wind 19 knots from the ENE. Ice drift 0.3 knots towards the SSW. Acquiring seismic reflection data all day. Had problems with trigging of the air gun in the afternoon and also around midnight. Serviced the solenoid and the problem was fixed.

6/1-15

Position: 87° 35.4' N, 62° 55' W, temperature - 32° C, air pressure 1015 hPa, wind 17 knots from the WSW. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards ENE. Acquiring seismic reflection data all day. Audun downloaded the data from the thermistor probes. One probe had a crack and the electronics was fried.

5/1-15

Position: 87° 34.2' N, 64° 05' W, temperature - 34° C, air pressure 1029 hPa, wind 2 knots from the W. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards E. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Audun discovered a 20 cm wide crack going right through the hydrophone hole and 1 meter away from three of our food boxes. Secured the hydrophone and let it remain in the crack.

4/1-15

Position: 87° 33.9' N, 64° 34' W, temperature - 28° C, air pressure 1030 hPa, wind 7 knots from the NNE. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards the east. Resumed seismic shooting after midnight. Audun moved more fuel to the camp. Our inventory is about 7.000 liter left. Have finally thawed out my personal clothes after they got submerged by overwater on the ice when the ice hangar had to be abandoned in the beginning of October

3/1-15

Position: 87° 33.9' N, 64° 47' W, temperature - 35° C, air pressure 1023 hPa, wind3 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.0 knots. Continued repair of the used generator and found the brushes worn. Replaced with brushes from the other newly broken one and we have power back again. Started heating the compressor again. Periods of intense pressure ridging sounds like standing next to a large water fall.

2/1-15

Position: 87° 34.2' N, 65° 05' W, temperature - 27° C, air pressure 1020 hPa, wind 10 knots from ENE. Ice drift 0.1 southeast. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Noticed strong jerks repeatedly over several hours. The reason was active pressure ridging about 250 meter to the north of us. The area seems otherwise intact. At 1400 hours the generator suddenly lost AC-power output. Hauled out the new spare generator and started. It run for about 2 hours and suddenly stopped. The cause is no compression as one valve lifting rod is unseated. This is not repairable here.

1/1-15

Position: 87° 36.8' N, 65° 04' W, temperature - 28° C, air pressure 1020 hPa, wind 21 knots from ENE. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards southwest. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Problems with hydrophone noise in the early morning - recovered the hydrophone and put it out again.

31/12-14

Position: 87° 40.7' N, 64° 47' W, temperature - 38° C, air pressure 1028 hPa, wind 12 knots from the ENE. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards the SSW. Acquiring seismic reflection data all day. Rigged up the electric oven in the new tent and called home for instructions on how to prepare a pork roast. Had a successful meal of pork roast, red cabbage and cloud berries for dessert.

30/12-14

Position: 87° 44.4' N, 63° 42' W, temperature - 43° C, air pressure 1026 hPa, wind 2 knots from the NNW. Ice drift 0.1 knots due south. Acquiring seismic reflection data all day. Too cold to do work outside.

29/12-14

Position: 87° 45.3' N, 63° 34' W, temperature - 35° C, air pressure 1026 hPa, wind 4 knots from NW. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards SSW. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Put up the inner tent and fired up the multi-fuel stove. Improved the heat box for the hydraulic oil reservoir and put in a fan heater

28/12-14

Position: 87° 46.4' N, 63° 58' W, temperature below - 40° C, air pressure 1024 hPa, wind 3 knots from the NNW. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards the south. Disassembled the air gun, but our inventory of firing seals are exhausted so the O-ring was flipped over and re-used. Back in the water, the gun was still leaking air, but giving good data and shooting continued. Audun replaced the battery for the data logger of the radiation flux measurements, and also the broken wind cross of the weather station.

27/12-14

Position: 87° 47.4' N, 64° 42' W, temperature - 36° C, air pressure 1023 hPa, wind10 knots from the southeast. Ice drift 0.1 due east. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Cleared a place for the tent which for now will be an addition to our present work space. This was a cold day and we had to take the tent floor inside the cabin to heat it before it was laid out. The tent was difficult to unpack, but doable. We connected to our air supply and the air filled support arches inflated nicely, but the structure folded after a few minutes from loss of air pressure.

26/12-14

Position: 87° 47.5' N, 66° 41' W, temperature - 35° C, air pressure 1025 hPa, wind 8 knots from south. Ice drift 0.2 due east. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Audun repaired the multi-fuel oven. Burned garbage from the packing material of the cargo. We burn all trash regularly and collect metal cans and glass in a bag for back-haul to shore in due time.

25/12-14

Position: 87° 47.3' N, 69° 16' W, temperature - 34° C, air pressure 1026 hPa, wind 7 knots from the south. Ice drift 0.3 knots towards the east. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Unpacked some of the received cargo. The multi-fuel oven had the top deformed, but seems repairable. Keeping the hydro hole from freezing is a problem as venting of the air gun creates a turnover every few minutes and introduce new cold water. A 2 kW heat stick in the water or a fan heater on top makes no visible impact. The ice chisel is the only way out.

24/12-14

Position: 87° 46.8' N, 71° 22' W, temperature - 34° C, air pressure 1032 hPa, wind 4 knots from the W. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards the east. Acquiring seismic reflection data all day. Located the last item, a tent in an ice rubble field about 400 meter before the start of the drop zone. Moved the remainder of the items from the drop zone to camp. The Christmas eve dinner was a cold buffet as we were too tired to arrange anything traditional.

23/12-14

Position: 87° 47.1' N, 72° 30' W, temperature - 34° C, air pressure 1033 hPa, wind 5 knots from the NNW. Ice drift 0.1 knots southeast. Acquiring seismic reflection data all day. Submitted situation report to MASC and FOH at 0354 GMT. First contact with the Orion plane of the 333 Sq. of the Norwegian Air Force at 0954 GMT about 45 minutes out. The plane arrived at 1040 GMT and made 8 passes dropping 16 pieces of cargo, all arriving within the proposed drop zone except two. We had located 15 pieces before midnight.

22/12-14

Position: 87° 48.7' N, 72° 54' W, temperature - 31° C, air pressure 1020 hPa, wind 14 knots from N. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards south. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Sent situation report to Maritime Air Support Centre, Andøya (MASC) and Forsvarets Operative Hovedkvarter (FOH) at 0240 GMT for expected supply mission. Air drop delayed by 24 hours - information received at 0530 GMT.

21/12-14

Position: 87° 49.7' N, 73° 01' W, temperature - 26° C, air pressure 1013 hPa, wind 13 knots from the NNE. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards the south. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Searched out for drop zone for the Orion flight coming tomorrow.

20/12-14

Position: 87° 51.1' N, 73° 13' W, temperature - 34° C, air pressure 1018 hPa, wind 7 knots from the ENE. Ice drift 0.0. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Re-adjusted the lift fan belt - a very cold job. The belt move to forward end of pulley, so an other adjustment is needed, but we need a warmer day. Audun moved another three loads of food from the old camp.

19/12-14

Position: 87° 51.2' N, 73° 18' W, temperature - 22° C, air pressure 1016 hPa, wind 14 knots from ENE. Ice drift 0.0. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Audun picked up another two loads with food from the old camp. Connected up the heat exchanger with the engine so heat from the extended radiator loop in the cabin also heats the engine. The drift is extremely slow. During the day it took over 8 hours to move 25 meters, the next 25 meters took nearly 5 hours. Audun uploaded all the radiation flux data to a NERSC ftp site.

18/12-14

Position: 87° 55.3' N, 73° 17' W, temperature - 23° C, air pressure 1010 hPa, wind 10 knots from the NNW. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards south. Shooting seismic reflection all day. Audun picked out the memory card from the data logger of the radiation flux instrument. All cargo (24 pieces) for the ice have arrived at the air base of the 333 Sq., Andøya.

17/12-14

Position: 87° 58.1' N, 73° 57' W, temperature - 28° C, air pressure 1013 hPa, wind 12 knots from the NNW. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards southeast. Acquiring seismic reflection data all day. Audun moved more food from the abandoned camp to the new camp. Maintenance work on the winch. 18 pieces of cargo arrived Andøya Air Base from Bergen.

16/12-14

Position: 88° 00.0' N, 76° 21' W, temperature - 25° C, air pressure 1008 hPa, wind 13 knots from the WNW. Ice drift 0.2 knots due east. Problems with irregular seismic trigging during the early morning hours. Acquiring seismic reflection data all day.

15/12-14

Position: 88° 01.8' N, 78° 05' W, temperature - 29° C, air pressure 1015 hPa, wind 15 knots from NW. Ice drift 0.4 knots towards southeast. Shooting seismic reflection all day.

14/12-14

Position: 88° 06.3' N, 80° 54' W, temperature - 27° C, air pressure 1013 hPa, wind 16 knots from the NW. Ice drift 0.3 knots towards the southeast. We are moving along the foot of slope on the Makarov Basin side and are getting excellent seismic reflection data.

13/12-14

Position: 88° 10.4' N, 82° 04' W, temperature - 23° C, air pressure 1008 hPa, wind 18 knots from the NNW. Ice drift 0.4 knots towards south. The air gun stopped in the early morning. Also, the hydrophone signal got swamped by noise trains. Serviced the air gun and also the air pressure reduction valve. Resumed seismic shooting at 1830 hours. Ambient noise level still too high, pulled the hydrophone to just below the underside of the ice to obtain good results.

12/12-14

Position: 88° 18.7' N, 83° 17' W, temperature - 33° C, air pressure 1016 hPa, wind 4 knots from NNW. Ice drift 0.2 knots towards southeast. Got the air gun in the hydro hole and started seismic reflection measurements. Audun determined and marked directions for north and south. Put the radiation flux instrument mast to a new location and also the weather station. Moved more equipment to the new camp area.

11/12-14

Position: 88° 19.9' N, 84° 02' W, temperature - 26° C, air pressure 1016 hPa, wind 7 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.1 knots toward south-southeast. Moved more equipment to the new camp. Heated the hydraulic oil reservoir and started the compressor. Deployed the hydrophone through a 75 mm plastic pipe filled with anti- freeze.

10/12-14

Position: 88° 21.0' N, 84° 55' W, temperature - 30° C, air pressure 1017 hPa, wind 5 knots from the N. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards south. Moved more equipment from the abandoned camp to the new camp. Continued to improve the work space.

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