The BAS ice-shelf hot-water drill: design, methods and tools
Open Access
- 1 January 2014
- journal article
- Published by International Glaciological Society in Annals of Glaciology
- Vol. 55 (68), 44-52
- https://doi.org/10.3189/2014aog68a030
Abstract
The 2011/12 Antarctic field season saw the first use of a new British Antarctic Survey (BAS) ice-shelf hot-water drill system on the Larsen C and George VI ice shelves. Delivering 90 L min−1 at 80°C, a total of five holes >30 cm in diameter at three locations were successfully drilled through almost 400 m of ice to provide access to the underlying ocean, including the first access beneath the Larsen C ice shelf. These access holes enabled the deployment of instruments to measure sea-water conductivity, temperature, depth and microstructure, the collection of water samples and up to 2.9 m long sediment cores, before long-term oceanographic moorings were deployed. The simple modular design allowed for Twin Otter aircraft deployment, rapid assembly and commissioning of the system, which proved highly reliable with minimal supervision. A number of novel solutions to various operational sub-ice-shelf profiling and mooring deployment issues were successfully employed through the hot-water drilled access holes to aid the positioning, recovery and deployment of instruments. With future activities now focusing on the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf, the drill has been upgraded from its current 500 m capability to 1000 m with additional drill hose and further generator, pumping and heating modules.Keywords
This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
- Twenty-first-century warming of a large Antarctic ice-shelf cavity by a redirected coastal currentNature, 2012
- Rock debris in an Antarctic ice shelfAnnals of Glaciology, 2012
- Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreatNature Geoscience, 2010
- Properties of a marine ice layer under the Amery Ice Shelf, East AntarcticaJournal of Glaciology, 2009
- Recent dramatic thinning of largest West Antarctic ice stream triggered by oceansGeophysical Research Letters, 2004
- Oceanographic conditions south of Berkner Island, beneath Filchner‐Ronne Ice Shelf, AntarcticaJournal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 2001
- A hot-water ice-coring drillJournal of Glaciology, 2000
- Circulation, mixing, and production of Antarctic Bottom WaterProgress in Oceanography, 1999
- The BAS hot water drill: development and current designCold Regions Science and Technology, 1993
- Hot-water Drilling And Bore-hole Closure In Cold IceJournal of Glaciology, 1990