Rapid Air Movement Drill

The Rapid Air Movement (RAM) Drill was developed for use in creating shot holes for seismic geophysical exploration. It is a system in which high-velocity air drives rotating cutters and blows the ice chips from the hole. The cutting drill motor hangs on a hose that carries the air from the surface and is reeled out as the hole deepens. It was used three times in West Antarctica, where it routinely achieved depths of 90 m. The Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) project borrowed the drill for the 2010-2011 Antarctic field season to test methods of producing holes for radio antennae at South Pole, but could not get deeper than 63 m at that location.

In 2017, IDP and community scientists finalized science requirements which drove substantial modifications and upgrades to the drill system to reduce its logistical requirements. IDP completed a conceptual design for the modified system known as the RAM 2, with scalable components for either shallow (~40 meter) deployments or for full 100 meter deployments. The modifications will serve to dramatically reduce the system weight from approximately 24,000 lbs. to about 10,000 lbs. and will allow for easier assembly and operations in remote areas.

Status (RAM 2)

A field test of the modified system was conducted near Raven Camp in Greenland in July 2018. Repairs and additional modifications were made prior to the drill’s deployment to Antarctica in September 2018. On Thwaites Glacier, beginning in 2022-2023, the system will use the large compressors from the original RAM Drill to help ensure project success. The system was tested by two IDP personnel at WAIS Divide during the 2019-2020 field season. The drill routinely achieved between 50-55 meters, the requirement for the upcoming Thwaites field work. The smaller RAM 2 compressors will eventually be optimized to provide the necessary airflow for future projects.