First Data!

This morning I kept waking up fearing that I'd overslept our daily
check-in call.  But I hadn't.  I just wasn't used to how light it was
in the tent all night...

After checking in with McMurdo to assure them that all was well, we
set about getting started with the business end of our trip;
collecting data.  Today was a temperature log day, so we started by
assemblign the system; temperature probe, 'sinker' weight, winch,
'logger box', computer, and a generator to run it all.  After a few
false starts involving diffoculties with the depth counter, we got off
and running with the log.  The first step is to lower the probe until
it reaches the borehole fluid, and then let it soak there for about an
hour while the tempearture of the probe system comes into equilibrium
with the fluid.  Then we started off down the hole, at about 2 meters
per minute.  So to go 700 meters (from the fluid to the bottom) took
us about 350 minutes, or just under 6 hours.  Then we took a look at
the data and started back up!  When bringing the tool back to the
surface, the cable that has been in the borehole fluid comes up wet,
and this is always a challenge and creates a mess.  But we'd rigged a
new 'cable wiping' system, which seemed to work perfectly!  Before,
we'd always had to have a hand on the cable, wiping it with an
absorbent pad.  This makes life much easier!  By the time we got to
the surface, it was close to midnight; a long day, but worthwhile as
we successfully collected our first temperature profile today!

[David, Dartmouth '14, pleased with the performance of the logging system!  The cable goes from the borehole on the left foreground, over the pulley and to the winch in the background- the logging electronics are housed in the blue-foam 'hot box' and logging is controlled by the laptop]

Tomorrow, another temperature profile, and setting up for optical
logging.