Deep ice drilling, bedrock coring and dust logging with the Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) at Minna Bluff, Antarctica
Rapid Access Ice Drill is a new drilling technology capable of quickly accessing the glacial bed of Antarctic ice sheets, retrieving ice core and rock core samples, and providing boreholes for downhole logging of physical properties. Scientific goals include searching for old ice near the glacial be...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Annals of Glaciology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0260305521000136/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811157271806214144 |
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| author | John W. Goodge Jeffrey P. Severinghaus Jay Johnson Delia Tosi Ryan Bay |
| author_facet | John W. Goodge Jeffrey P. Severinghaus Jay Johnson Delia Tosi Ryan Bay |
| author_sort | John W. Goodge |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Rapid Access Ice Drill is a new drilling technology capable of quickly accessing the glacial bed of Antarctic ice sheets, retrieving ice core and rock core samples, and providing boreholes for downhole logging of physical properties. Scientific goals include searching for old ice near the glacial bed and sampling subglacial bedrock. During field trials near McMurdo Station on a piedmont glacier at Minna Bluff in the 2019–20 austral summer, we successfully completed a ‘top-to-bottom’ operational sequence in three boreholes by (1) augering through firn, (2) creating a borehole packer seal in non-porous ice, (3) establishing fluid circulation, (4) quickly drilling a borehole in ice at penetration rates up to 1.2 m min−1, (5) acquiring a short ice core at depth, (6) penetrating the glacial bed at a depth of ~677 m, (7) recovering a 3.2 m core of ice, basal till and subglacial bedrock, (8) optically logging the borehole on wireline, (9) testing hydrofracture potential by overpressuring the borehole fluid and (10) operating in an environmentally benign yet rapid field mode. Minna Bluff testing, therefore, demonstrates the effectiveness of this integrated system to drill rapidly through thick ice and penetrate across the glacial bed to take cores of bedrock. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T05:03:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-204b36f8c7cc4498a8242d4c0f5203f0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0260-3055 1727-5644 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T05:03:19Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Annals of Glaciology |
| spelling | doaj.art-204b36f8c7cc4498a8242d4c0f5203f02023-03-09T12:27:43ZengCambridge University PressAnnals of Glaciology0260-30551727-56442021-09-016232433910.1017/aog.2021.13Deep ice drilling, bedrock coring and dust logging with the Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) at Minna Bluff, AntarcticaJohn W. Goodge0Jeffrey P. Severinghaus1Jay Johnson2Delia Tosi3Ryan Bay4Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN 55812, USAScripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USAU.S. Ice Drilling Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USAWisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53703, USADepartment of Physics and Space Sciences Laboratory, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USARapid Access Ice Drill is a new drilling technology capable of quickly accessing the glacial bed of Antarctic ice sheets, retrieving ice core and rock core samples, and providing boreholes for downhole logging of physical properties. Scientific goals include searching for old ice near the glacial bed and sampling subglacial bedrock. During field trials near McMurdo Station on a piedmont glacier at Minna Bluff in the 2019–20 austral summer, we successfully completed a ‘top-to-bottom’ operational sequence in three boreholes by (1) augering through firn, (2) creating a borehole packer seal in non-porous ice, (3) establishing fluid circulation, (4) quickly drilling a borehole in ice at penetration rates up to 1.2 m min−1, (5) acquiring a short ice core at depth, (6) penetrating the glacial bed at a depth of ~677 m, (7) recovering a 3.2 m core of ice, basal till and subglacial bedrock, (8) optically logging the borehole on wireline, (9) testing hydrofracture potential by overpressuring the borehole fluid and (10) operating in an environmentally benign yet rapid field mode. Minna Bluff testing, therefore, demonstrates the effectiveness of this integrated system to drill rapidly through thick ice and penetrate across the glacial bed to take cores of bedrock.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0260305521000136/type/journal_articleAntarctic glaciologyglacial tillsice and climateice coringsubglacial sediments |
| spellingShingle | John W. Goodge Jeffrey P. Severinghaus Jay Johnson Delia Tosi Ryan Bay Deep ice drilling, bedrock coring and dust logging with the Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) at Minna Bluff, Antarctica Annals of Glaciology Antarctic glaciology glacial tills ice and climate ice coring subglacial sediments |
| title | Deep ice drilling, bedrock coring and dust logging with the Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) at Minna Bluff, Antarctica |
| title_full | Deep ice drilling, bedrock coring and dust logging with the Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) at Minna Bluff, Antarctica |
| title_fullStr | Deep ice drilling, bedrock coring and dust logging with the Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) at Minna Bluff, Antarctica |
| title_full_unstemmed | Deep ice drilling, bedrock coring and dust logging with the Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) at Minna Bluff, Antarctica |
| title_short | Deep ice drilling, bedrock coring and dust logging with the Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) at Minna Bluff, Antarctica |
| title_sort | deep ice drilling bedrock coring and dust logging with the rapid access ice drill raid at minna bluff antarctica |
| topic | Antarctic glaciology glacial tills ice and climate ice coring subglacial sediments |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0260305521000136/type/journal_article |
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