Night at NEEM

At Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute arms are still in the air after the end of the 2009 season at NEEM that turned out to be just perfect. Drilling went smoothly. Logistic followed the script. Science proceeded nicely in a steady pace – even weather turned out to be more nice than usual and helped to create the excellent results by the end of the season.

By Lone Holm Hansen

Right from day one – that is the 28th of April – when the first crew was put into camp and found all buildings and equipment in good condition after a long and hard polar winter, work

Yes, it is hard to get down the arms again
after an excellent season

in camp was carried out steadily and nicely and at a certain point it was about overtaking the plan that was made for the three and a half months it is possible to keep the camp open.

Drilling through…
After less than two weeks in camp the first ice core was drilled. This was the start of a more or less continuous drilling that was only interrupted by minor incidents and adjustments of the drill. Worries about whether the new drill liquid would live up to expectations vanished during the season when it turned out that it was both easy to work with and that it has excellent drill capacity. The new drill liquid that is based on coconut oil is environmentally friendly and developed by members of the NEEM-group. The combination of a new drill, new drill liquid and very

Trevor Popp, Post.doc. at the Centre
for Ice and Climate, spent several
weeks during the season, drilling
ice cores at NEEM

competent drillers resulted in a new world record in drilling ice cores finishing at a depth of 1757.84 m by the end of the season.  This depth when translated into a timescale corresponds to 38.000 years back in time – the period right after an abrupt climate change associated with Dansgaard-Oeschger event 8.

Matter of being at the right spot at the right time
Good logistics and skilled and efficient teams are keys to the success. And the fact that the camp was found in good conditions upon arrival was a good starting point for the season 2009.

Throughout the summer the NEEM camp was continuously optimized. The science and drill trenches were expanded and ended up being roomy, fully equipped, and with easy access. The dome was equipped with an improved heating system, a shower, a well functioning office, and a living room with a cinema and table soccer. Extra weatherports were erected and the NEEM camp is now ready to house about 35 – 40 people at a time. In the workshops the extra space has contributed to a larger degree of clarity and accessibility. All in all the circumstances that created better working and living conditions while staying on the ice.

Lots of ice blocks were taken away in order to expand the trenches

“A great season”, concludes Jørgen Peder Steffensen, associate professor and ice core curator at the Centre for Ice and Climate and field leader the first eight weeks of the past season. “A season without accidents is always a good season”.  A slight frown of worries appears and he continues, “But the CFA measurements are behind schedule. The construction of the CFA lab was too slow among others because a high number of scientists want to join in with extra experiments. This means that the work with the CFA needs to be speeded up tremendously in the coming season. If not it won’t be possible to make all the measurements before the drill work has come to an end. The Steering Committee of NEEM needs to discuss how to speed up the extremely ambitious CFA project”.

Skiway to NEEM
The skiway which is the heart of the camp had high priority from the very start. To ensure the access to and from the NEEM camp for all necessary equipment, machinery, tools, fuel, food, and crew it was necessary at an early stage to have it upgraded to be able to receive heavily loaded Hercules planes even in bad weather conditions. Therefore it was necessary to turn the skiway 45 degrees to have it point into the prevailing wind and to keep it groomed continuously to be ready for receiving planes throughout the season. The skiway was upgraded, and, with a big thanks to an excellent co-operation with the US Airforce and their ski equipped Hercules, 14 flights carrying in a total 102.225 kg of cargo and 167 people were used during the season.

2010 on the drawing board
Although the arms are still high in the air at the Centre for Ice and Climate there is no time to rest on the laurels. Several questions need to be answered before the start of next season. A big problem to be solved is the heat from the various instruments that creates temperatures that are too high in the science trench.

Another issue is the manning plan for the season 2010. For financial reasons and in order to create a better continuity in the camp the number of people in and out of NEEM will be reduced. In other words the crew will have to stay on the ice for at least six weeks at a time. Jørgen Peder Steffensen faces no problems in finding the right people for the coming season as the season 2009 has produced a high number of very skilled people.

The NEEM camp opens again late spring 2010

For more details read NEEM field dairies 2009, 2008 and 2007

Read also Ice core drilling sets new world record