Astrobiologist Dale Andersen Antarctic Status Report 14 November 2017: Setting Up Camp

Dale Andersen sent this message via Iridium satphone on 14 November 2017 1:09:15 PM EST Hi Keith: We are settling in and our camp is fully operational – all the tents up, gear more or less sorted and science equipment has been opened and we are starting to work on the various tasks at hand.

Sunday we drilled the first hole, just offshore from our camp, through the 3.6 meter ice-cover to provide access to drinking water. Today we drilled 4 more in two lake basins (2 each) which will be used during the next several days for lowering instruments and sampling equipment. We have been fortunate that our weather has been nice – cool and not so windy, but that is likely to change in a few days. Until then we will take advantage of our good fortune by getting the preliminary sampling and measurements out of the way. Cheers, Dale