Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 7 November 2022: Drilling Holes And Preparing Gear
Keith,
The weather shifted last night and for the moment we have overcast skies with low clouds blanketing the surrounding peaks, 30 knot winds from the south and -12C air temps. But no complaints, the weather was sunny and calm as we set up the camp.
We will likely stay close to our tents today unless the winds drop off since it makes working on the lake difficult. We are still organizing our various science tasks but have drilled a hole in the lake for drinking water which also let us test out the drill, bits etc. and get additional ice-thickness/bathymetry data (4.6 m thick, 26 m deep at that location near the camp).
As soon as the weather cooperates our field work will increase substantially over the next few days. But we all have a few preliminary tasks that need to be completed first, for example I am preparing and calibrating my YSI Exo2 water quality sonde right now, and as soon as we can get out on the lake we will collect water quality profiles (pH, temp, conductivity, dissolved oxygen etc.) of the water column in the North and South basins, and that in turn will guide water sampling this season.
Astrobiology
