Today I took a team out to Met City area for a bit of group brainstorming on how to install the site. A bunch of ice thickness measurements later and I think we’ve found a slim path on how we can get all of our different installations fitted into a limited and challenging space. Using the maps and some other surveys, I think we have a good idea of where the frozen melt ponds are, and I’m operating on the assumption that these will be where the ponds preferentially start to form in the summer. Thus, we are trying to avoid those areas as best we can, sticking to the hummocks for most equipment, and putting the heavy stuff on the outer wall of the Fortress. The met hut will be tucked up against a big plate of ice the is jutting up a couple meters into the air. This may cause a drifting challenge, but there is not much else to do. Many trade offs, but we’ll do our best to make this work.

Power supply from the sky: One of the helicopters transported the “Ocean City” hub onto the floe. This is only one component of our complex research camp which grows day after day. Photo: Alfred-Wegener-Institut / Stefan Hendricks (CC-BY 4).

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