The item in mystery photo #9 is an ice core box. These ice core boxes are special insulated boxes that we pack ice cores in for transport back to the United States. Each box holds four, one meter cores. In addition to the insulation of the box, we also pack the boxes with snow. The ice cores will travel over 10,000 miles from the time they leave WAIS Divide and arrive in Colorado at the National Ice Core Laboratory. The cores are always maintained at -20C or colder throughout the entire journey, helping to minimize any damage or alteration of the cores that may impact the scientific analyses.
The basic ice core packing puzzle:
1) Each three meter core is cut into one meter sections.
A three meter long core prior to being cut.
A one meter section of ice core.
2) The meter sections are dried, to remove any drill fluid, for 12 hours.
Cores drying to help remove the drill fluid from the exterior of the core.
3) Each meter is then packed in a plastic bag and ice core tube.
Packing the ice into plastic bags and then tubes.
4) Cores are placed into insulated boxes. Four tubes go in each box.
An ice core box and ice core tubes at the pack-up station.
5) Boxes are packed on skids. Each skid contains eight ice core boxes. How many ice cores is that?
A skid being 'built'. This skid needs one more box before the skid is complete.
6) Skids are wrapped and strapped and then placed on Air Force pallets (AFP). An AFP is how we get the ice on the airplanes that take the ice to McMurdo Station.
The skids are wrapped and strapped prior to being placed on an Air Force pallet.
7) Four skids go on each pallet. The pallets are then wrapped in a special ice core blanket and then netted with cargo nets. We don't want the ice to move at all in the airplane or during transit to the refrigeration units in McMurdo.
Each pallet has four skids on it. Can you calculate how many meters of ice are on each pallet? Remember: Each box contains four meters and each skid has eight boxes.
Check out the next journal to see how the ice gets from WAIS Divide to Colorado.