Little Dome C - Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice Drilling Site (75.29917 °S, 122.44516 °E) – Season 2022/23

Situation Report #36; Saturday 07 January 2023

Personnel @LDC: Saverio Panichi (ENEA, Camp Leader), Frank Wilhelms (AWI, Chief Driller), Robert Mulvaney (BAS, Chief Scientist), Markus Grimmer (UNIBE), Romilly Harris Stuart (LSCE), Matthias Hüther (AWI), Gunther Lawer (AWI), Johannes Lemburg (AWI), Martin Leonhardt (AWI), Florian Krauss (UNIBE), Michele Scalet (ENEA), Julien Westhoff (NBI), Andrea de Vito (ENEA)

Personnel @DC: Giuditta Celli (UNIVE, ISP)

Weather at LDC 5 pm: sunny, 3-5 knots, 645 hPa

Meteo at DC 5 pm: T = −32°C, Wind = E 5 knots, Wind Chill T = −43°C


Drilling continues with more long runs; pizza night with the neighbours

Drilling continued easily again today with seven runs, all but one over 3 m in length, for a daily total over 23 meters.

As is common with European drilling projects, we finished early today (a little before 19.00) for the Saturday evening meal. We like to take the meal on a Saturday all together. The downside of working in shifts is that we take no meals all together during the rest of the week, and the Saturday evening meal allows us to get back together again for a relaxed chat, and maybe watch a film together. This Saturday, we invited our near-neighbours from the French science traverse to enjoy pizza and a few beers together.

End of day statistics:

Individual runs of the drill were recorded as: 2.82, 3.35, 3.42, 3.52, 3.47, 3.51, 3.04 m

  • Drillers’ depth: 581.74 m; daily total 23.36 m
  • Loggers’ depth: 585.97 m; daily total 23.52 m


Rob Mulvaney & Frank Wilhelms - LDC, 09 Jan 2023