WE DID IT!
By John Goodge and Jeff Severinghaus. On January 16, 2020, RAID successfully drilled through the glacial ice at Minna Bluff and recovered rock core from beneath the subglacial bed at a depth of 681 m, a new record for deep ice exploration in Antarctica. It was a... read more
FIELD LIFE 101: The Bathroom Situation
Contributed by Martha Sortland The question we get most often from friends and family back home is, “how do the bathrooms work out there?” It’s actually quite fascinating, if you’re not squeamish! Let’s start with urine. In Antarctica, you can’t pee wherever... read more
MINNA COCINA
RESTAURANT REVIEW Excerpted from The Daily Raider. This week we stopped in at Minna Cocina, a small but up-and-coming eatery gaining a strong following in the greater McMurdo area. It’s certainly off the beaten track, but well worth the drive. In fact, some... read more
DRILLING UPS AND DOWNS
I’d like to say that we are on schedule and that everything has gone according to plan! But that is not the reality of drilling in Antarctica when you’re developing an entirely new approach. We’ve had steady downward progress, that much is good, and we’ve passed... read more
MAKING SCIENCE HAPPEN
In an earlier blog, I briefly introduced the four-person staff at Minna Bluff who run the camp and support our science. Each of them plays a key role in keeping our camp running smoothly, allowing us to focus on field development of the RAID drill. By living and... read more
COOKING IN ANTARCTICA
Contributed by Martha Sortland Martha. I have a feeling the authors of “The Joy of Cooking” never expected a battered copy of their seminal work to be considered a “must have” in an Antarctic field camp. Thankfully, we no longer need to survive out here the way... read more
IT TAKES A TEAM
RAID is unlike any other drill. It’s designed to drill deeply and quickly through glacial ice in order to penetrate the oldest ice at the bottom and then drill ahead into bedrock below. Because of the great depths, low temperatures, different media (ice to rock),... read more
BACK TO WORK
3rd Antarctic Field Trials (AFT3), 2019-20 It’s been a long time since RAID last communicated, but we are back at work! After a hiatus in the 2018-19 season to do some upgrades and service to the modules while other projects used heavy science tractors, we are back at... read more
TIME FLIES
Time flies when you’re having firn. RAID testing is coming to a close, and with it, my first Antarctic field season.
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HOLDING PRESSURE
Successful completion of packer pressure test. Completed a record-breaking borehole to 131 meters. On to ice drilling!
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RAID is supported by the National Science Foundation
Note: The views expressed in this blog are personal reflections that do not represent either the RAID project or the National Science Foundation.