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.

Position: 88 11.6' N, 179 50' W, temperature - 5 C, air pressure 992 hPa, wind 27-32 knots from E. Ice drift 0.5 knots towards northeast. The water level has risen another 20 cm during the last 24 hours, total change is 45 cm. Increases have been stepwise and during periods of high winds. Snow drifts have formed upwind from the ice hangar with two about 70 meter long ridges (crests at 1.5 m above the ice) on either side and enlarged earlier smaller accumulations.

Position: 87 57.5' N, 175 57' E, temperature - 8 C, air pressure 997 hPa, wind 32 knots from E. Ice drift 0.8 knots towards NNE. Water depth is 3998 meter. Stopped shooting the air gun as the released air did not hit the hole in the ice, but deflected and accumulated somewhere else under the ice. Water level in the hangar has risen 10 cm since yesterday. Have to use the survival suits to be able to move around. Worked to free frozen-in parts of the hovercraft skirt now under water.

(22 - 28 Sept. 2014)

The ice camp

Construction of the FRAM-2014/15 ice camp was completed on Saturday (see picture). The direction of the ice drift relative to our target area have allowed us to invest about 2 weeks of full attention to obtain a net 128 square meter area of protected working conditions at a reasonable price. All the building materials are locally derived, except for tarps from sail maker Iversen, Bergen, some 2" x 4" lumber and a few sheets of plywood.

Position: 87 51.7' N, 173 59' E, temperature - 10 C, air pressure 1006 hPa, wind 6 knots from SE. Acquiring seismic data. Penetration about 2 km below the seabed over the abyssal plain using the 0.3 litre airgun fired every 25 meter. Audun worked on the bath room.

Position: 87 50.1' N, 173 35' E, temperature - 6 C, air pressure 1006 hPa, wind 3 knots from NE. Ice drift 0.1 knots towards NE. Two centimeter of new snow on the ground. Start up of seismic reflection measurements delayed by intermittent loss of the hydrophone signal. The problem was a defect power plug. At 1640 hours, we were finally acquiring seismic data. Put the generator on styrofoam pads to reduce the acoustic noise transmitted via the ice into the water. Checked radiation flux instrumentation and removed ice from the sun time sensor and snow from the IR-sensor.

Position: 87 47.9' N, 173 39' E, temperature - 8 C, air pressure 1007 hPa, wind 8 knots from ENE.
Contacted old hands with long industry experience from marine seismic surveys. Most suggestions pointed to the solenoid valve which controls air flow, but Einar Gjestrum who last worked with Bolt airguns for GECO about 30 years ago was more specific. It is "O-ring; part number 640", he said, and that was really the problem. When started cold, the belt driven hydraulic

Position: 87 43.9' N, 174 43' E, temperature - 13 C, air pressure 1003 hPa, wind 20 knots from NE. Ice drift 0.3 knots towards NW.
Data logging system running. Discovered hydraulic pump for driving the compressor and winch had blow a seal and hydraulic oil been routed into the main engine. Prepared spare belt driven external pump. When pressure was put on the Bolt PAR airgun before putting in the water, the gun went into auto-fire and would not close. The gun was completely dismantled and all visible o-rings were changed. On the next try, the gun still went into auto fire.