ITP44 Deployment Operations

The final ITP deployment for JOIS 2010 was a prototype with a current probe with stabilizing fins which required a 24” diameter hole to be drilled through the floe. Time was running out on the cruise to find a decent ice floe for the deployment, as the ship was heading south, and would soon be out of the perennial ice zone. The days were also becoming increasingly shorter and the weather more winter-like.

Consequently, the deployment team had to settle for a relatively tiny floe that was only 1.55 m thick. A portable hot water drill ring apparatus was used to melt through the floe, after some difficulty with frozen hoses in the sub-zero (< -5° C) conditions. The ice core was removed by cutting up the core with a chainsaw. The remainder of the deployment proceeded as usual, finishing with the surface flotation collar effectively corking the 2 foot hole. The backhauling of deployment apparatus and personnel was quickened due to the approaching darkness and bursts of snowfall.

More information and photos on the deployment operation are also available at: https://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=66818.

Kris Newhall and Dan MacLean position the 2 foot diameter hot water ring for drilling through the ice floe. (Rick Krishfield)

Jim Dunn adjusts the heater/pump unit. (Rick Krishfield)

Water is supplied to the hot drill through the augered 4” diameter hole in the center. After the core is drilled, the 4” hole is also used to pass a toggle under the ice to lift the core for removal. (Kazu Tateyama)

A clove hitch is secured to the profiler by Newhall and Dunn to suspend the profiler while it is being mounted to the wire. (Rick Krishfield)

Rick Krishfield guides the profiler with MAVS sting and fins through the hole. (Dan MacLean)

From the deck of the Louis, one can barely make out profiler being lowered through the hole in the ice. (Bill Williams)