The actual start of drilling of the first hole of the season started on Monday, December 19th, in the very early morning. The new firn drill was used to a depth of roughly 40 meters and performed as expected. After firn drilling was complete the firn drill was removed and the drill tip, weight stacks, and drill head was assembled and prepared for ice drilling. Ice drilling is temporarily on hold to resolve issues related to incorrect readouts from the programmable drives for the load cells. These issues may take a day or more to resolve.
All IceTop DOMs are in place in the twenty-four tanks at twelve locations. All twelve surface junction boxes are also in place. The ten IceTop tanks at Stations 40, 50, 38, 49 and 59 are filled with water.
Cargo is not the critical concern it was last week although IceTop work is held up by the delayed shipped of surface cables.
The Enhanced Hot Water Drill Seasonal Equipment Site (SES) is fully established. The Rod Well System (RWS) is operational and the main heating plants are now fully commissioned. The large drill supply hose reel also fully operational.