News

The science field season at WAIS Divide, and the drilling operations for the project, has ended after a fabulous field season. All of the replicate core we had hoped for was collected and transported to McMurdo and the side projects of shallow cores and pit work were completed. The science and drilling teams are in McMurdo and heading to New Zealand. The support staff is preparing camp for the winter. This is a wonderful way to close out field operations for the project. I thank all the people that participated in the field operations, in any way, for their contribution to the effort. Some of the people that have many years of work invested in the field operations are Mark Twickler, Joe Souney, Don Voigt, John Fegyveresi, Gifford Wong, Anais Orsi, Bruce Vaughn, Jay Johnson, Nicolai Mortensen, Krissy Dahnert, Chris Gibson, Josh Goetz, Michael Jayred, Tanner Kuhl, Elizabeth Morton, Patrick Cassidy, Dave Ferris, John Robinson, Paul Sendelbach, Geoff Hargreaves, Brian Bencivengo, and Matthew Kippenhan. It has been a great team. Most of them will be working on the South Pole 1500m Ice Core, so the team will keep going.

Some of the LC-130s are being used to transport passengers and cargo to New Zealand because of unexpected issues with landing C-17s in McMurdo. This has reduced the number of LC-130 flights available for the WAIS Divide take-out, so a lot of equipment that would normally be sent back to the States has been left on-site for next year. Don and Krissy's weekly updates are attached. This is the last update for the field season.

Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of the field effort,
Ken

• SCO SITREP #12
• Driller SITREP #12