Little Dome C - Beyond EPICA Drilling Site (75.29917 degS, 122.44516 degE)

Personnel @LDC: Saverio Panichi (ENEA, Camp Leader), Carlo Barbante (ISP-CNR, PI), Olivier Alemany (IGE), Olivier Delanoe (IPEV), Romain Duphil (IPEV), Matthias Hüther (AWI), Calogero Monaco (ENEA), Anthony Pauty (IPEV), Philippe Possenti (IPEV), Michele Scalet (ENEA), Jakob Schwander (unibe), Thomas Stocker (unibe), Gregory Teste (IGE), Remo Walther (unibe)

Personnel @DC: Giacomo Bonanno (ENEA)

Weather at LDC 9 pm: sunny

Meteo at DC 9 pm: T = −36°C, Wind = 5 knt, Wind Chill T = −45°C

Reaming is an essential step in ice core drilling before placing the tubes of the casing. Today, the first reaming step in the BEOIC drilling hole was completed. Reaming will continue during the coming weekend. In the drilling tent the second Vissmann cabin was completed, but not before a large 0.5 tonne cauldron and a pump of 350 kg for the drilling fluid recycling were placed into it.

BEOIC drilling depth at the end of the day: 128.0 m

The two electricians, Olivier and Anthony, worked further on the Little Dome C power distribution. This includes digging trenches with a small excavator so that all cables are underground and do not block Pistenbully and Caterpillar traffic on the surface. Electricity was also brought to the core buffer containers where packing will take place during routine drilling.

Fine tuning of the position of the VHF antenna was done by Calogero and Michele who had to work in lofty heights on the roof of the antenna container.

RADIX firn drilling continued. Several hurdles had to be taken as we encountered some very soft and hard layers while drilling in the near-surface firn. This required numerous attempts and frequent cleaning of the hole.

RADIX drilling depth: 13 m

Thomas Stocker and Carlo Barbante