Equipment

If you are preparing a NSF proposal that includes any kind of support from IDP, you must include a Letter of Support from IDP in the proposal. See Requesting Field Support for more information.

The following equipment is available for community use. For questions regarding any of the equipment listed below, contact Kristina Slawny at 608.263.6178 and/or kristina.slawny at wisc.edu.

Hand Augers

Hand Auger, IDDO

A small lightweight, portable drill system designed to take core from firn, but will also work in many kinds of solid ice. Read more...

Kovacs 9-cm Mark II hand auger kit at IDP.

Hand Auger, Kovacs

A small lightweight, portable drill system designed to take core from firn, but will also work in many kinds of solid ice. Read more...

Hand Auger, SIPRE

A small portable drill system designed to take core from firn, but will also work in many kinds of solid ice Read more...

Prairie Dog Drill

A modified hand auger that includes a stationary outer barrel to allow operation in solid ice as well as firn. Retrieves cores 98 mm (3.9-inches) in diameter to depths of 30 meters (w/ Sidewinder). Read more...

Sidewinder Power Drive

A drive/lifting system used in conjunction with hand augers to extend the maximum practical depth of coring with a hand auger to about 30 meters. Read more...

Agile Ice Coring

4-Inch Drill

A cable-suspended electromechanical drill that retrieves cores 104 mm (4-inches) in diameter down to approximately 400 meters depth. Read more...

700 Drill

This will be an ice coring drill capable of obtaining ice cores up to 700 m depth and agile enough for use in regions with limited logistics. Read more...

Blue Ice Drill

The Blue Ice Drill is capable of retrieving large-diameter cores of 241 mm (9½-inch) in diameter. Read more...

Chipmunk Drill

The Chipmunk Drill is a hand-held, motor driven drill that collects 41 mm (1.6-inch) diameter cores in solid ice. Read more...

Eclipse Drill

The Eclipse drill is an electromechanical drill that takes 81 mm (3.2-inch) diameter cores up to 300 meters depth. Read more...

Electrothermal Drill

This drill melts an annulus around the core. It supplements the 4-Inch Drills and can be substituted for the 4-Inch sonde for use in ice warmer than about -10°C. Read more...

Foro 400 Drill

A lighter, more robust, more easily controlled, and more user-friendly version of the 4-Inch Drill, capable of recovering 98 mm diameter ice cores to approximately 400 meters depth. Read more...

Stampfli Drill

A very lightweight system capable of collecting 57 mm (2-inch) diameter firn core down to 100-meters depth. Read more...

Rock, Mixed Ice/Rock Coring

Agile Sub-Ice Geological Drill

The ASIG Drill is capable of drilling through 700 meters of ice, taking pieces of ice core along the way, and then recovering 5-6 meters of bedrock core. Read more...

Winkie Drill

An agile rock coring unit adapted by IDP for subglacial rock coring in blue ice areas. Using standard AW34 drill rod, the system has a depth capability of 120 meters. Read more...

Non-Coring Drills

Rapid Air Movement Drill

Rapid Air Movement (RAM) Drill for the fast production of deep seismic shot holes approximately 100 mm in diameter to depths of 90 meters. Read more...

Sediment Laden Lake Ice Drill

A 28 kW hot water drill useful for creating holes with very little initial water, for freeing instrument cables from ice, and for accessing equipment beneath ice. Read more...

Small Hot Water Drill

These drills use hot water to create shallow holes in ice. Primary use is for producing shot holes for seismic work and shallow access holes. Read more...

Borehole Logging Equipment

Deep Logging Winch

The Deep Logging Winch is capable of logging boreholes 4000 meters deep and can operate at temperatures as low as -45° C. Read more...

Ice Well Facility

The Ice Well facility is a resource available to the Ice Drilling Program team as well as NSF funded scientists. Read more...

Intermediate Depth Logging Winch

The Intermediate Depth Logging Winch is capable of logging boreholes 1750 meters deep, can operate at temperatures as low as -45° C, and is transportable by Twin Otter. Read more...

Logging Tool Testing at IDP-Wisconsin

Information to questions that usually get asked by the community prior to testing their equipment in the IDP-Wisconsin Pressure Vessel. Read more...

Logging Tower

This device straps to the protruding casing of a borehole allowing a sheave to extend up above the borehole with no need for any kind of tripod or crane. Read more...

USGS Deep Logging Winch

The USGS Deep Logging Winch is capable of logging boreholes 4400 meters deep and can operate at temperatures as low as -45° C. Read more...

Auxiliary Equipment

The 6 meter x 6 meter Axion tent set-up inside the IDP-WI warehouse. Photo credit: IDP.

Axion Inflatable Tent

The tent is comprised of inflatable air beams, removable sides, and red coloring along the beams for visibility in poor weather conditions and easy identification by aircraft. The tent is 6 m x 6 m and was recently tested in northeast Greenland with the Winkie Drill and Eclipse Drills. Read more...

The 2024 IDP cargo ramp; a lighter weight ramp for safer and easier loading and unloading of cargo at polar field sites. Photo credit: IDP

Cargo Ramps

IDP designed and fabricated a simpler, lighter weight ramp for safer and easier loading and unloading of cargo at polar field sites. Read more...

The MAST tent for the BID-Deep system at Allan Hills, Antarctica, during the 2019/20 field season. Credit: Tanner Kuhl.

MAST Tents

The Mast Anchored, Suspended & Tensioned (MAST) Tents can currently be used with the BID and Foro 400 systems, as well as the new 700 Drill. Minor modifications to the 4-Inch Drill would make it compatible as well. Read more...

Photo of an IDP windscreen inside the IDP-WI warehouse. Photo credit: IDP.

Windscreens

For projects where weather or project duration do not necessitate use of a drill tent, windscreens can help to shield operators and equipment from the wind. Read more...