Drilling Davis Sea Ice

First ice drill for the season

Each season the sea ice in front of Davis station breaks up over the summer months and is moved away by the wind and tides, leaving us with open water.

As the winter approaches and the ocean cools again, the sea ice starts to reform.

It takes several weeks for the ice to become thick enough for us to consider any form of travel on the new ice. We work on 200mm for ski or foot travel, 400mm for quad bike travel and 600mm for the Hägglunds vehicles. During winter to ensure the ice is safe for travel we continually drill the ice to check its thickness and condition. Last week we were able to start drilling for the season, and to play it safe we do the first drill utilising a piece of safety equipment called ‘Rescue Alive'. The Rescue Alive unit can be used to retrieve a person out of the water and get them back to safety if they have a fall through thin ice. No risk of anyone going through the ice this day as the first few drills measured between 200-300mm. However, the access to the ice at the shore was poor, and proved to be a bit of an challenge to negotiate so we will be back again next week to have another go.

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