WAIS
DIVIDE
2011-2012
DISCDRILL
WAIS DIVIDE PARENT BOREHOLE COMPLETED!Ice Drilling Design and Operations
• Assistwithboreholelogging• Installrooftopandslot-spanningsheaves
• Removeold3,400mcablefromDISCDrillwinch• Spoolonnew4,200mcable• Terminatefiberoptics• Deepenthemainboreholeto~50mabovethebedattheChiefScientistsdirection
• Producehighqualityicecore• Adjustdrillingproceduresandtechniquestodrillanddeliverwarmice,ifencountered.
• TestReplicateCoringcapability
• ElizabethMortonservedasawinchoperatorwithGaryClowandFrankUrban• Firstroundofloggingcompletedbetween12/3/11-12/21/11• Secondroundofloggingcompletedbetween1/1/12-1/4/12• Fiveloggingtoolsdeployed
• Opticaldustlogger• Sonic‘snake’logger• Seismictool• Temperaturelogger• Sonicpinger
• TotalIDDOdaysatWAIS:73• 18daysforcrewarrival,Archwork,slotwork,loggingsetup• 9daysforcableoperations• 7daysfordrillstartupandotherArchprep• 2daysofboreholereaming• 6daysofdrilling(2shifts)
• Startingdepth:3,331.538m• Endingdepth:3,405.077m• Totalmetersdrilled:73.539• Trippingspeeds
• Descendedat1.0m/swiththepumprunning• Ascendedatupto2.0m/s
• CutterSpeed• 80rpmcontinuestobethesweetspot
• Penetrationrates• Variedwithiceconditions;between2.5-5.7mm/s
• Boreholefluiddensity• Densitywasmaintainedat.920@-31°Cthroughouttheseason• Fluidwasmixedto.935@-31°Ctocompensatefor141bloss
• 4,391L(1,160gal)ofdrillingfluidwereused• 3,140L(830gal)ofIsoparK• 1,251L(330gal)of141b
• Unspooled3,400mcableoffofthewinchdrumusingtheP05cablespooler
• Spooledonnew4,200mcableusingthePengocabletensioner• ItwasdifficulttogetenoughpickonthecranesduetothefloorheavinginthemiddleoftheArch
• Newfor2011-2012season• Real-timeviewingofthe
boreholefromthesurface
• SteffenBoHansen,fromtheCentreforIceandClimate(CIC)inCopenhagen,Denmark,visitedasadrillobserverfortwoweeksinJanuary
• Terminatedbothendsofthefiberopticcableoveraperiodof5days
• VeryacceptablelevelsofdBlossacrossallfibers
FINALBOREHOLEDEPTH:3,405.077meters
CABLEOPERATIONS:
BOREHOLECAMERA:
BOREHOLELOGGINGOPERATIONS:
SEASONGOALS:
DRILLINGOPERATIONS:
SPECIALVISITOR:
