Air; it's a wonderful thing! As if working conditions are not difficult enough, the air has been so cold recently that the air compressor won't even start. I must have pulled the starter cord 5000 times over several hours! It tried to start, but just wouldn't turn over. This makes filling the SCUBA tanks "impossible" (although we did come up with some creative ideas!), which holds diving experiments at a stand still. We had some other equipment problems as well. So while Ian, Aslan, and Hilke worked on problems with Hal, I worked on the generator. We fired up the generator that we use for the hotsy and attached an electric heater. I put the heater on the air compressor to try and warm up the oil. Ian had checked the oil, and it didn't even drip! I heated, and attempted to start the compressor all day. In the mean time, we came up with alternative ideas about how to get the air down to the divers. We discussed disconnecting one end of the umbilical cord and blowing air down to the diver! We talked about whirling the hose above us in circles and hope that the "centrifuge effect" would force air to the divers! But finally.... the compressor started, I filled the dive tanks and we dove properly!First, I dove and retrieved Hal. He had stopped working during the night and needed to be reset. I attached a lift bag to him, inflated the lift bag using the "neumo" hose (the blue hose in the umbilical set up that allows the diver to put air into whatever object they choose - in this case a lift bag). I raised Hal to just below the surface of the ice, swam him back to the dive hole and set him back down on the bottom. I then attached a lifting rope through a carabineer so we could pull him out of the hole. I surfaced and helped pull Hal back out.
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Ian and Hilke discuss the data that is appearing on the screen. It wasn't making sense; they knew something was wrong.
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After pulling Hal out of the dive hole, everyone got to work at assessing the problem!
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Ian and Hilke make a plan for the light sensor!
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Hilke warms the computer battery in front of the kerosene heater; things don't run as long in the cold, so we need to warm them up!
After several hours of work and adjustments, Hal was ready to be redeployed. Ian suited up and took Hal back out to his spot. So far he is working GREAT! Our fingers are crossed that he keeps on working well; we've got lots of other work to get started!
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Ian heads down with a lift bag to attach to Hal in order to transport him to the research site.
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The "Kiwi's" search for Ian!
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A parting glacier shot: my tent in front of the Canada Glacier!
You can also check out my journals and pictures from previous seasons at: http://www.ryejrhigh.org/ellwood