Field Plans

Plans are frequently made to get out into the field. The reality of whether or not those plans are met is often a far different story. A great example of this is the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide deep field camp. The WAIS Divide camp has been in existence for over 10 years. The primary purpose of the camp was an ice core drilling project it was recently completed. There are a few more science projects that will work out of the WAIS Divide camp this year and the camp staff will also focus on transporting the current cargo and camp facilities back to McMurdo. WAIS Divide, and West Antarctica overall, has a long tradition of being difficult to fly into and out of during the summer season. The WAIS Divide camp staff is about 16 members. The initial group of that staff was supposed to have their initial camp put-in on October 30th to start the season at WAIS. They are still in McMurdo. Most of the delays have been weather delays where the flight was cancelled right away in the morning. After about five days, they took off on a flight and then returned an hour later because one of the plane's engine's stopped working. Overall, the camp staff was handling things very well. After the mechanical boomerang last Wednesday they were still in good spirits. I think they really hoped to make it out this past Monday, two days ago. After that cancellation they were showing the signs of the wear. It can be difficult to wake up every morning for two weeks and think you are leaving for 2-3 months. Last night (Tuesday, local time) they got on another flight and this one made it to WAIS Divide, only to boomerang because the weather was not good enough to land. If they get out on Thursday, that will be 14 days of delays. The camp last year had 10 days of delay for the initial camp put-in and they still had a very successful season.

The WAIS story is very close to home for our project. We were originally scheduled to fly to WAIS sometime between November 16th and the 21st. This afternoon we met with our point-of-contact and concluded that the earliest we will be flying to WAIS is the 23rd. However, there is no reason to make definitive plans on that date until the camp staff has their initial put-in and have been able to work for a few days. There is likely no updates to our status until at least Tuesday. At that time we'll visit with our point of contact again and see if there is any more certainty to our schedule. At this point, it appears that our overall time at WAIS will be reduced but we still have high hopes for the work that we will be able to get done.

The next three days are looking busy in the field. We are scheduled as the primary, backup #1, and backup #2 for the Twin Otter with three locations to choose from across the Ross Ice Shelf. With three locations the hope is that we'll be able to find good weather for at least one the AWS sites. On Friday, we are scheduled for helicopter flight and then another Twin Otter flight on Saturday. Naturally, all of this is weather dependent. If it goes well, it might be a great three days in the field.