Little Dome C - Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice Drilling Site (75.29917 °S, 122.44516 °E) – Season 2023/24
Situation Report #09, 05 December 2023
The Basler landing at LDC. Photo F. Scoto. Credit: Scoto©PNRA/IPEV
The group photo in the drill tent. Photo F. Scoto (Leica Q3; SUMMILUX 1:1.7/28 ASPH; 29mm; f4; 1/160s ; ISO-100). Credit: Scoto©PNRA/IPEV
Processing line in operation. Photo O. Alemany. Credit: Alemany©PNRA/IPEV
The processing team after the first ice core processed. Photo J. Westhoff. Credit: Westhoff©PNRA/IPEV
Personnel @LDC: Saverio Panichi (ENEA, Camp Leader), Olivier Alemany (CNRS), Philippe Possenti (CNRS), Matthias Hüther (AWI), Remi Dallmayr (AWI), Gunther Lawer (AWI), Johannes Lemburg (AWI), Andrea Ceinini (ENEA), Federico Scoto (CNR), Tamara Gerber (UCPH), Iben Koldtoft (UCPH), Julien Westhoff (UCPH), James Veale (BAS), Michaela Mühl (UNIB), Fortunat Joos (UNIB), and Inès Gay (IPEV)
Weather at LDC 5 pm: sunny and windy
Meteo at DC 5 pm: T = -30°C, Wind = 15 knt
Today we began processing the core drilled last season. We started with training the new people in the morning and then processed ice cores in shifts in the afternoon, while further fine tuning the processing line. LDC became an active airfield today by a visit of the Basler from MZS. The plane brought us the long anticipated skidoo and left for Concordia after Gianluca got his camp tour.
What we did today at LDC:
- we trained new people on the core processing line;
- we started processing the ice from last season;
- we finished setting up ventilation in the “pig” and in the drill cabin;
- we set up the extraction table extension; we prepared a drill head and a hollow shaft;
- we plugged all drill computers needed to drive the drill.
End of day statistics:
- Driller’s depth: NA
- Logger’s depth: NA
- Processed depth: 617 m; daily total 9 m
Olivier Alemany, Matthias Hüther, Julien Westhoff and Saverio Panichi. LDC, 05.12.2023