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Russian Scientists in Antarctica Start Drilling

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© Форпост Северо-Запад

The polar explorers' task is to extract cores from a borehole above the subglacial Lake Vostok. Studying them will help gain new insights into the causes of global climate change.

On Thursday, January 13, scientists from St Petersburg Mining University, who had arrived on the White Continent on New Year's Eve, contacted the editors of Forpost to report on progress at the drilling complex. Unlike in previous years, the work is done around the clock, in three shifts. This year, such a regime is possible because the seasonal team numbers 12 persons for the first time since Soviet times.

One team is international. It includes Mikhail Zhakov from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, South Korean expert Soon Do Hur and Vyacheslav Kadochnikov from Mining University. The other two are made up solely of representatives of St Petersburg University.

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© Форпост Северо-Запад / Ведущий инженер Сербин обучает корейского коллегу Сун До Хура спуско-подъемным операциям при бурении

"The glacial-drilling team came to the East in two groups. The first five persons arrived here as early as December 28, while the others did not arrive until January 3 due to inclement weather. The first group consisted of experienced personnel, who had already worked at the station more than one season, while the second group consisted mainly of newcomers. Because of the shortened seasonal work schedule, we immediately set about implementing the stated plans without making any allowances for acclimatisation. In particular, we reactivated the drilling complex, conducted routine work for adjustment and maintenance of the main and auxiliary equipment, carried out thermal and pressure tests, and started drilling and coring," said Alexey Bolshunov, head of the research party at St. Petersburg Mining University.

He also said that the work in three shifts began after the newcomers, who make up most of the team, gained practical skills in drilling, tripping, and maintaining the drill on the surface during core recovery. It was necessary because the technology used in Antarctica is fundamentally different from classic drilling operations.

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© Форпост Северо-Запад / Аспирант Шадрин извлекает шламовый фильтр из бурового снаряда

"We obtained the first 206 cm core from a depth of 3306 metres on January 4, the anniversary of the death of Professor Nikolay Vasilyev, who led the drilling operations at Vostok station over the past 20 years. About 45 metres of the core have already been lifted to the surface," Alexey Bolshunov said.

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© Форпост Северо-Запад

Vyacheslav Kadochnikov, the leading engineer of St. Petersburg University, explained the value of these ice cylinders, which without exception, all institutes in the world, which deal with the problems of climate change dream of getting. The point is that the Antarctic ice sheet is composed of snow crystals falling in solid form from the sky. Year after year, they accumulate, compact into firn and then turn into ice, which gradually spreads from the continent's centre to its edges.

"The ice lying on the surface is modern, and the lower it is, the older it is. The cores we extract from the borehole are several hundred thousand years old. In a laboratory setting, you can study their gas and isotope composition in detail and determine what events occurred when they formed in the Earth's atmosphere and what consequences these events. For example, how much the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air has increased after significant volcanic eruptions. The research results will make it possible to identify specific patterns and make predictions for the future," explained Vyacheslav Kadochnikov.

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© Форпост Северо-Запад / Дмитриев и Кадочников при проведении операций по сборке бурового снаряда КЭМС

Scientists are also conducting scientific research to develop new environmentally friendly technologies for drilling wells in the ice massifs and opening up subglacial bodies of water. For example, they have already assembled and prepared a stand created within Mining University's Scientific Incubator program framework for research.

The experiments that will be carried out at this stand will provide new knowledge on the transport of ice slurry by air, which is needed to develop fundamentally new technologies for drilling the snow-firn (i.e. upper - ed.) horizons of glaciers. In addition, to conduct hydrodynamic studies of the fusion drilling process with simultaneous thermohydraulic expansion, the stand was rebuilt and upgraded. Our scientists Daniil Serbin and Andrey Dmitriev assembled it two years ago during the 64th RAE (Russian Antarctic Expedition) season. The structural elements of the hydraulic expander, which will soon undergo initial testing at the stand, we printed on a 3D printer at the Mining University," said the scientific head of the university's Antarctic Party, Sergei Ignatyev.

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© Форпост Северо-Запад / Игнатьев паяет латунные шламовые фильтры для бурового снаряда КЭМС

His colleague Dmitry Vasiliev cited "the wonderful microclimate that has developed in the glacial-drilling unit, despite the difficult acclimatisation" as one of the positive moments. He stressed that all the polar explorers "actively joined the everyday work, gave it their all and supported each other in challenging moments, of which there are many at Vostok station.

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© Форпост Северо-Запад / Аспирант Васильев собирает стенд для проведения экспериментальных работ

"It is safe to say that we are witnessing the birth of a real team, bringing together representatives of different countries, organisations, professions and generations", summarised Dmitry Vasiliev.

Recall that the Vostok station was founded in 1957, during the second Soviet Antarctic expedition. And seven years later, the famous geomorphologist Andrei Kapitsa, who conducted seismic sounding of the ice sheet, assumed a vast lake under it. This theory was finally confirmed at the end of the eighties. It was then that representatives of the Leningrad Mining Institute, as Russia's oldest technical institute of higher education was then called, began drilling a well. Research on the drill samples was to unlock the secrets of a body of water that had been isolated from the Earth's atmosphere for millions of years. Its surface is at a depth of 3,769 metres.

In 2015, a group of scientists from Mining University and the Arctic and Antarctic Institute was awarded the Russian Government's Science and Technology Prize "for developing theoretical foundations for environmentally friendly technologies and technical means of drilling, as well as their implementation in the conditions of Antarctica's glaciers". By then, they had succeeded in penetrating the lake twice and obtaining coveted samples of the unique water.

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January 2020 marks 200 years since Russian sailors discovered Antarctica. What secrets are buried deep below the continent, and why its ice shield is of such interest to scientists studying climate change processes?