Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID)

The U.S. Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) is ready for Antarctic ice-sheet exploration! RAID completed successful field trials in the 2019-20 austral season. Since then, RAID has completed a series of important tooling upgrades and technical improvements. With new developments in knowledge of subglacial materials and basal ice-sheet environment, new technologies and micro-instrument methodologies, discovery of very old (up to 4 m.y.) ice from blue ice fields, and an engaged new generation of young cryosphere and solid-earth scientists — now is a good time for a 2nd RAID Science Planning Workshop to reunite the community and articulate the future science that the community wants to do with RAID! Expression of interest and application forms are now officially open until July 15, 2024.

Conveners: 
Sarah Shackleton (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) 
John Goodge (Planetary Science Institute) 
Allie Balter-Kennedy (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory) 
Shuai Yan (University of Texas Institute for Geophysics) 
Jeff Severinghaus (Scripps Institution of Oceanography) 

Dates: September 25-27, 2024 (including half-day session for Early Career Researchers!) 
Location: Herndon, Virginia (near Dulles airport) 
Website: https://www.rapidaccessicedrill.org/2nd-raid-science-planning-workshop/ 
Expression of Interest Deadline: July 15, 2024 
Registration Deadline: August 15, 2024 
Costs: No registration fee. Meals will be provided to all participants during the Workshop. Rooms in the Workshop hotel will be available at a discounted rate (participants to pay on their own). Travel support is available for 15 Early Career participants (by application).

Workshop goals: 
(1) rejuvenate & grow scientific user community for RAID; 
(2) enable new generation of early-career scientists in cutting-edge Antarctic research; 
(3) promote inter–disciplinary research synergies, including use of new cryosphere technologies; 
(4) engage the geophysical community for reconnaissance, site selection & data analysis; 
(5) help integrate RAID and COLDEX activities; 
(6) stimulate new cross-disciplinary research & proposal collaborations; 
(7) develop new concepts to support traverse platforms in Antarctica; and 
(8) create a new Long-Range Science Plan for RAID based on community research goals & priorities for future drilling. 

The workshop conveners seek a diverse group of participants for this NSF-funded workshop. Space is limited! Reserve your place and participate in this important workshop that will steer the future of RAID as an interdisciplinary research platform for deep ice-sheet access. An Expression of Interest (EOI) form is available for all participants. The deadline for submitting your EOI form is July 15, 2024. This includes an Application for Travel Support for Early Career Researchers. 

For detailed information, costs, key dates, and a link to the EOI form, visit the workshop’s website: 
https://www.rapidaccessicedrill.org/2nd-raid-science-planning-workshop/

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The 2019/20 Antarctic field season was a bustling time for IDP. The entire engineering staff of IDP deployed across five different sites. Using the Winkie Drill and Badger-Eclipse Drill, Engineer Grant Boeckmann and Research Intern Elliot Moravec successfully collected four subglacial rock cores on Thwaites Glacier in the Hudson Mountains for PI Brent Goehring’s project. Engineer Tanner Kuhl and Driller Elizabeth Morton supported PI John Higgins’s work at Allan Hills through operation of the Blue Ice Drill and the new Foro 400 Drill. IDP Warehouse Manager Jim Koehler operated the Intermediate Depth Logging Winch (IDLW) at South Pole Station in support of PI Kael Hanson’s logging of the SPICEcore borehole and then transitioned to WAIS Divide to assist Engineer Chris Gibson with testing of the new RAM 2 Drill components with the original RAM Drill compressors. They were also able to perform brief testing on the Small Hot Water Drill, which will serve as the backup drill for PI Sridhar Anandakrishnan’s GHOST project on Thwaites Glacier in 2020/21. Engineer Jay Johnson deployed to Minna Bluff with the RAID project at the request of PI John Goodge and the NSF. In addition to consulting on operation of the RAID equipment, Johnson also used an IDP 4-Inch Drill and chips bailer to assist in setting the RAID packer. He also re-terminated the IDLW cable following damage at South Pole and was assisted in this effort by Kuhl and Morton. The IDLW was then operated in two RAID boreholes by RAID and IceCube personnel. Despite substantial weather and aircraft delays program-wide, objectives were largely completed for all projects, and feedback received from PIs has been very positive.

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In early January, IDP engineer Jay Johnson deployed to McMurdo Station to lead planned Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) maintenance efforts. The team of five set-up the drill rig and completed the modifications and test objectives requested by PIs John Goodge and Jeff Severinghaus. Primary accomplishments include:

• Repair and testing of the hydraulic system
• Testing of the Fluid Recirculation System
• Documentation of operation and winterization procedures
• Installation and testing of new components
• Deployment of a new conductor casing

In addition, the team developed procedural efficiencies to reduce rig set-up and take-down time. Pack-up and module/parts organization will be completed early in the second quarter.

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