7 January, 2003

Hot Finger Arrives On The Ice - Another Day At F6

Yesterday, the second corer became lodged in the ice. The extensions had not been secured properly and they lost the second corer. It was in the water below 5 meters of ice and had fallen over slightly so that it was caught on the underside of the ice. They tried several times to hook it and pull it up, but to no avail.

The options available were to send a diver in through a diving hole established in the middle of the lake. The other option was to call for an ice melter to create a larger hole in the hope of freeing the pipe. They called McMurdo and an ice melter was helicoptered out and deposited the melter on the lake near the hole. (Again with the unbelievable delivery service!) Then members of our team began the slow process of melting the ice.

Because we could not do any coring, I set off again for F6 to continue doing my journals. This time Sarah came with me. It was a nice break for her as she had been nursing a cold and so she welcomed the opportunity to stay in a heated building all day. I was quite happy to be able to start to get caught up on my journals. Unfortunately, I have a couple hundred e-mails and will not be able to respond as my time here is so limited, but I hope to chip away at a few.

At F6 we met the remaining members of LTER, Peter, John, Karen and Daryl. The team again was kind enough to treat us to dinner. They even set up an area so we could take a sponge bath. I'm not sure if they were being kind, or if we stunk so bad that they wouldn't let us eat without cleaning! Unlike the LTER group who flies to Lake Hoare every weekend for a shower, we are without access to shower facilities. Stink la pew!

When Sarah and I returned to camp at night, we were surprised to see two figures way out on the ice. Aaron and Jake worked all through the night to try to melt the ice with "hot finger", but without success and they worked until 8:30 am! We were all hopeful that tomorrow would be a more promising day.

The coring team at work on Lake Fryxell.