Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 3 November 2022: Drilling Dive Holes In The Ice

Keith

Our weather continues to be good with fairly calm days and cooler, more gusty nights.

But the weather has been great thus far which is always helpful when setting up the camp. It is important that we have shelter in place, and water available before we begin our work. Yesterday we drilled through 4.6 meters of lake ice about 30 m from the camp. That will be our principle source of water while we are here.

The entire hole will not freeze shut but we will need to chip out or re-drill the upper meter or two periodically to maintain access to the lake water beneath the ice. Needless to say, it is quite clean and pure so we do not have to worry about pathogens etc. as one does in temperate regions.

Tomorrow we will start settling into the lab tents, dive tents etc. preparing for the observations, measurements and sample collections we will begin to make over the next 4-6 weeks.

Cheers,
Dale

Astrobiology