Little Dome C - Beyond EPICA Drilling Site (75.29917 degS, 122.44516 degE)
Situation Report #5, 6. December 2021
Entering Little Dome C precinct on the only road. The camp is visible in the background. Credits: Barbante©PNRA/IPEV
Greg Teste cutting the freshly drilled firn core from 102 m depth into 1-m pieces. Credits: Stocker©PNRA/IPEV
Personnel @LDC: Saverio Panichi (ENEA, Camp Leader), Carlo Barbante (ISP-CNR, PI), Olivier Alemany (IGE), Olivier Delanoe (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 = −32°C, Wind = 15 knt, Wind Chill T = −47°C
Today Saverio and Calogero made the trip from Little Dome C by Caterpillar and PB300, including a sledge to take remaining cargo and personnel to LDC. At 18.30 we arrived at LDC after a smooth ride of 3.5 hours. Those of us who were at LDC in 2019/20 did not recognize the place. What has been a cozy village has become a town. Power generator, workshop, underground power distribution in trenches and the ongoing excavation work for the ice core storage. All this work was done under the harshest conditions in the past 10 days with constant wind which made the temperatures in the lower 40ies even more unbearable. Those of us having arrived today owe a GRAND MERCI: stepping into a warm sleeping tent requires many months of preparation and work.
The drillers did not take a day off but continued their work and hit the 100 meter mark today.
Drilling depth at the end of the day: 102 m
Thomas Stocker and Carlo Barbante