Written 6 December, 2007 3589 meters above sea level Minimum temperature: -41 °C One of the associated projects that we accommodate on the traverse is to collect samples for studies of concentrations of black carbon in the snow pack. Black carbon originates from the industrialized parts of the world and is transported to the Polar Regions through the atmosphere. Presence of black carbon efficiently reduces the surface albedo, i.e. how efficient the surface reflects solar radiation. The lower the albedo, the more solar energy is absorbed at the surface which in turn can reduce the albedo even more by changi...

Written December 5, 2007 3585 meters above sea level After traveling all day, tonight we set camp at a location where satellite imagery told us we would experience very different snow structure across an expanse of several kilometers. Standing outside the vehicles and looking out across the expanse of the ice sheet, on casual inspection it looked pretty much the same in all directions; very small surface roughness with evidence of shifting winds, including occasional patches of shiny wind-induced surface polish. Yet our crevasse-detection radar had recently begun showing signs of unusual vertical fe...

Written December 3, 2007 3590 meters above sea level With a sense of accomplishment, this noon we bid farewell to the packed snow and the lone temperature array transmitter, which is all that was left to mark our drilling site 91. Under a cool, cloudless sky, the horizon looked identical in all directions: flat and white, with lighter sky near the horizon fading into a deep blue straight up. Very small patterns formed by drifted snow, less than ten centimeters high, now provide the major surface features. Such a huge expanse dominated by the smallest of features! The calm, clear, sunny day makes th...

Written December 3, 2007 3587 meters above sea level Minimum temperature: -47 °C Clear, sunny skies today made it possible for a long-planned flight to visit us at site 91. We said good-bye to three of the part-time traverse crew, Tom, Unni, and Torbjørn, who are heading back to their jobs and families. They were a big help and also a joy to be with, and we will miss their company as we continue the traverse toward South Pole. Today was also a special day, almost like Christmas, for our lead mechanic, Kjetil, who received six differentials for the vehicles! Two have broken so far on the traverse, and Kjetil has been able to replace them in the field. We are all hoping that now that we have plenty of extras, they will not be needed! ...

Written 2 December, 2007 3587 meters above sea level Minimum temperature: -45 °C Now that we have been here at Site 91 for three days, several of the main tasks here are done, and the list of things to do is becoming shorter. The big event yesterday was finishing the 90 meter ice core (well, 90.40 meters actually). Drilling went so well that the core was finished almost a day early. Mary and Tom also finished the work in the snow pit by measuring the thermal conductivity and grain size, and collecting samples for stereology, stable isotope analyses, and trace chemistry. Atsu and Jan...

Written December 1, 2007 3587 meters above sea level Today was our second day here at Site 91, and we were again fortunate to have excellent weather to continue with our work. The drilling progressed nicely, reaching 59 meters by the end of the day, while Atsu coordinated the shallow drilling and recovered two more 7 meter cores. At sites with very little snowfall (less than 10 cm of snowfall each year) and very low annual temperature (mean annual temperature ~ -50 °C) drilling can be a challenge, particularly in the upper 5 meters. Close to the surface, snow grains metamorphose from very...

Written 29 November 2007 3587 meters above sea level Thanks to the professionalism and dedication of Kjetil and Einar who worked throughout the night, Lasse?s differential gear was replaced and we were on our way to Site 91 by 9:10 am. But it happened again, this time to Chinook. Just as we passed the final 10 km mark to Site 91, she coughed out some weird noises and stopped running. The diagnosis, again, was differential gear failure. As a result we were forced to stop and establish the camp around 4:00 pm. We are just 8.7 km short of the originally planned location, but where we are now became S...

Written November 30 2007 3587 meters above sea level Site 91 is our first major science stop, and today was our first full day here. After a short meeting this morning, everyone picked up where they left off last night. The largest task at the major science stops (Sites 91, 92, 93, 94) is the ice core drilling. This morning, Lou, Stein, Glen and Tom finished setting up the Eclipse drill, and reached 31 meters depth by the end of the day; Atsu and Jan-Gunnar used a hand-powered drill to collect shallow cores; Karsten and Helgard worked on processing radar data and replacing some parts on their systems (and we hop...

Written 28 November, 2007 3541 meters above sea level Early Antarctic explorers may have had problems with their sled dogs, but we are now experiencing the problems of modern times — a broken-down traverse vehicle. Just as the day was coming to an end, with just one or two more hours of driving left, one of our four vehicles, Lasse, showed signs of a problem by means of a flashing red light on an instrument panel. After a through inspection by our super mechanic Kjetil, it turns out that the differential gear (a gear that controls the speed of the wheels when making turns) needs replacing. The front part of Lasse is now covered with a tarp and heated so that maintenance work can be done in the cold of -45 degrees Celsius (air temperature at midni...

Written 27 November, 2007 3542 meters above sea level We started our day quite early today at 7:00am as there was lots of work to be done. Depot 700 is a site where a fuel-caching party left 127 fuel drums last year in preparation for this traverse. We picked up 122 of them and now are fully loaded with all the fuel needed to reach the South Pole, plus some reserves. The air temperature during the daytime hovered at around -20 degrees Celsius under a nice clear sky, which made our job certainly much easier than cold, windy conditions. Science also took place here, with Mary, Lou and Helgard working on a snow pit, and Jan-Gunner and Tom drilling a 12m ice core with a hand auger. ...