As the weather is on our side, the quest for the micrometeorites continues. On Thursday, we focus on a ridge on the Vengen Mountains. This ridge is on the southeast open to the plateau, the inner, higher part of the continent – composed purely of ice and snow, and from our previous campaign in 2013 we know these are the ideal locations to look for micrometeorites! The winds here are strong (~9 km/h), with wind-chill effects of -18˚C, and the exposed glacier shows beautiful structures. Once back at the station, with nothing more than a toothpick and an optical microscope, without washing or sieving the extracted sediment, 5 micrometeorites were extracted from one of the three samples in less than half an hour. This is highly promising!
Now that we know where to look, today (Friday the 16th) we decided to visit a moraine in the Gunnestadbreen that is exposed to the SE winds from the plateau (cf. map below). Even on this beautiful, sunshiny day, the 15 km/h winds never stop, leading to wind-chill effects of -18˚C. We don’t bother to take off the skidoo suites and go straight to work. Four different locations at the different ends of this moraine are sampled. Once back at the station, one of the deposits yields 3 very nice micrometeorites in no time. This brings the grand total to 11. Let’s keep on going at it!
