Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 12/05/2007 - 11:59
Forums
Antarctic Ice Sheet Studies

Hello Mr Gillete I'm Chance Alexander and i was wondering what kind of explosive charge you used to dertimine the thicknessof the ice?  Where are you drilling and why 35m and not something else?

Fri, 12/07/2007 - 11:48

Brandon Gillette

Excellent question, and there will be more information to come on the topic.  We are basically using modern TNT, about 500 grams for each charge.  The reason we're looking at 35 is because we're trying to get to the snow/ice boundary.  Imagine exploding a firecracker under fresh powder, what happens to the snow, what happens to the energy?  If we can get under the snow and right near the ice, we can get a much better understanding of the area since most of the energy will be trapped and can travel down to the bedrock and then back up again.  This gives us much clearer data.Cheers,~Gillette