Immediate report of Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition 1988-89: VUWAE 33

Event Diary

Event Diary

9 Nov.	McConchie, Winchester, Dawson, and Wilson arrive Scott Base on C140 flight on scheduled date.
10 Nov.	Recover all event cargo (nothing missing) and commence issue of field gear. Initial event briefing with John Alexander (Operations Manager). Evening lecture for Survival Training.
11 Nov.	Day 1 of Survival Training. Basic moving on snow techniques and shelter building.
12 Nov.	Day 2 of Survival Training. Climbed on Castle Rock, practised rock techniques, moved around in crevasse field.
13 Nov.	Day trip to Cape Evans with Margaret Bradshaw (K221).
14 Nov.	Packed and weighed all field gear and event cargo. Limited to 1200 lbs on first flight to Miers. 600 lbs internal plus four pax and 600 lbs underslung. Problems reducing load to minimum and had to leave some useful items behind which posed a problem later because of helo ops and "bad" weather.page 38
15 Nov.	Scheduled to depart Scott Base at 0900 hrs but finally leave at 1300 hrs. Miers Hut in excellent condition. No sign of water having flowed earlier in season. Found cairns marking proposed sites for the three weirs.
16 Nov.	Beautiful cloudless day. Visited all the weir sites which looked good except for an overflow channel on the Adams. Will have to divert this channel so that it meets the main stream above the weir site as no other sites possible. Adams started to flow approximately 1430 hrs at the weir site (50-100 l/s). Peak flow at approximately 1600 hrs and then dropped at a rate of about 4 mm/hr. Miers started to flow about 1600 hrs. Lake Miers started to receive water from the Adams. Considerable sediment movement of sand sized particles.
17 Nov.	Spent day waiting for helo to shift gear Cape Chocolate. Scheduled for mid morning but finally arrived with Martin Doyle (DSIR hydrology technician) at 1630 hrs. McConchie and Winchester to Cape Chocolate to load sling. Helo returned to McMurdo to refuel, after having already refuelled at Marble Point en route to Miers. Helo finally returned after 3 hours from Aztec Mountain and as end of "crew day" couldn't shift our two loads. McConchie and Winchester returned to Miers hut having wasted entire day. Both streams flowed with the Miers reaching the lake. Getting gear from Cape Chocolate now critical.
18 Nov.	Started work on the weirs but frustrated by lack of fuel. Only had two gallons which Martin Doyle brought over from Vanda. Half finished Lower Miers site before fuel ran out. Started work on the diversion on the Adams.
19 Nov.	Helo arrived with first load of gear from Cape Chocolate at 1030 hrs. Second load about an hour later, very efficient operation this time. Helo deployed prefabricated weirs to the various sites saving considerable time and effort. First weir installed after 15 hours with Pionjar. Trench 400 mm deep, 7 m long, and averaged 300 mm wide.
20 Nov.	First weir completed after 20 hours work for five persons. Gear shifted to Adams site and commenced trench. Stopped work at 0200 hrs, water flow lowest at that time, with about one third of trench dug.
21 Nov.	Four hours work on Adams weir but had to stop as flow increased. Cloudy all day and expected helo did not show.
22 Nov.	Worked throughout the "night" on Adams weir. Trench finished at 0400 hrs and weir installed and backfilled. Started work on the Miers flume. Flume installed and sealed after only about 4 hours work. Flume appears to work well except at low flow when poor resolution. Could build a small flume to fit inside and improve resolution, although small flows account for only a small amount of the total discharge of the Miers stream.
23 Nov.	Slept all day and waited for the helo to pick up Martin and drop off Bernie Gunn (Auckland Herald). All streams dried up and no flow.
24 Nov.	USA Thanksgiving Day. No helos so still waiting for Bernie and the rest of event and field gear. Fixed some minor leaks in the Adams weir. All the flow now appears to be passing through the Adams weir so the diversions are working well.
25 Nov.	Weather bad all day at McMurdo and Miers. No progress.
26 Nov.	Weather bad all day at McMurdo and Miers. No progress.
27 Nov.	Sunday and therefore no flying. Martin further delayed and his programme starting to suffer. Carried Pionjar and tools over to the Garwood to install recorder site. Eight hour return trip with very heavy packs (Pionjar weighs 80 lbs).page 39
28 Nov.	Helo finally arrived with gear for the Garwood camp and Bernie Gunn. Martin left for the Victoria valley. Finished the wing-walls on the Adams weir. No oil for the generator so still handicapped.
29 Nov.	Finished wing-walls on the Upper Miers site. Foxboro recorders installed on the Upper Miers and Adams sites.
30 Nov.	Waited for helo to come and get Bernie Gunn. Restricted in what we could do being tied to camp. Tested the Sokkisha total station (theodolite-EDM) for commencement of survey work.
1 Dec.	Helo arrived and Bernie Gunn left. Started programming the Psion and Campbell data loggers. Winchester and Dawson commenced survey of Lake Miers.
2 Dec.	Snow showers all day. Attached staff plates to weirs, sealed all joints with RTV sealastic. Recharged batteries and found various survey benchmarks.
3 Dec.	Sorted out all the files on the PC. All disks and hardware appear to have arrived in good order and working well. Checked all Campbell software to drive the dataloggers. Rivers all dried up except for a few isolated ponds. This is the result of no sun during the past few days. Sediment traps established.
4 Dec.	Snowed all day with some showers quite heavy (75-100 mm total). Programs successfully transferred to Psion except for battery problems. Survey control establishment commenced but snow too heavy after a couple of hours. Calibration data found to be missing from the replacement transducers. Telexes sent to Christchurch.
5 Dec.	Got PC and Psion working together at last. Data and program transfer working. Wrote program for the Lower Miers site. Made up wooden brackets to hold transducers to weir faces. Won't use condoms and antifreeze as streams appear to be flowing continuously.
6 Dec.	Mounted all transducers and wired up the Campbell dataloggers ready for installation. Finished survey of the surface of Lake Miers.
7 Dec.	Wrote the program for the Adams. Added parameters for wind direction and completed wiring all sensors. Needed multimeter to finish transducer calibrations. Worked on survey of upper valley.
8 Dec.	Visited by VIP's (Palmer, Ellis, Plimmer, Logan, Crerar). Brought gear from Scott Base including replacement radio, multimeter etc. Erected climate station at Adams and wired it all to data logger. Mast and gear installed at the Miers but still to be wired. Good stream flows by 1600 hrs. Survey of the benchmarks continued.
9 Dec.	Wired up the Miers data logger. Wrote program to calibrate the various transducers as multimeter doesn't work very well because of the short response time of the signals. Survey started of the Adams snout. Peak stream flows for the season so far with 0.2 m through the Miers. Foxboro records look bizarre as water froze in the protective housing.
10 Dec.	Calibrated and mounted the transducers on the Adams and Miers. All the instrumentation appears to be working well. Survey of the Adams snout continued.
11 Dec.	Tidied all the software and hardware and backed up as required. Calibrated and installed gear on the lower Miers. Started gaugings for the ratings on the Miers and Adams. Survey of the Adams snout continued.
12 Dec.	PC disk drive died as a result of sand. Telexes sent to IBM and VUW for replacements. Scott Base staff have arranged loan of PC from McMurdo for a few hours to start all the page 40 data loggers - most appreciated. Carried out 10-12 gaugings on the Adams and Miers. Finished survey of the Adams snout
13 Dec.	Helo arrived at 1000 hrs with VIPs and PC. PC worked fine and I arrived back at camp 10 mins before helo arrived to pick up party and PC. Gaugings continued and control for ablation poles located.
14 Dec.	McConchie and Dawson went to the Garwood to install recorders. Three hour trip over, established camp and set up recorders with no major problems. Beacons established for ablation pole survey.
15 Dec.	Visited the lower Garwood valley. Interesting stream as it flows underground, apparently along the moraine ice interface, for over 1 km before coming back to the surface under artesian pressure from the valley side. Roundness of bedload in Miers determined and survey control continued around the upper end of Lake Miers.
16 Dec.	Tied in survey at the lower weir site and levelled the "V" notches and staff plates.
17 Dec.	Gaugings on the Miers. Winds too strong to install ablation poles on glaciers although glacier travel appears very straight forward and safe. No major slots. Surveyed cross-sections on the Miers.
18 Dec.	Weather bad so nothing much done. Did one cross-section on the Adams but too cold. Measured "b" axes on the pebbles from the Adams and Miers.
19 Dec.	Completed cross-section surveys. Worked on diversion in the upper Adams. Highest flows recorded so far with 0.255 m on the Adams.
20 Dec.	Started installing ablation poles on Miers glacier. Very slow work until technique discovered using combination of auger and pinch bar. Nine poles installed. Had to shift the benchmarks to see all the poles. Very high stream flows.
21 Dec.	Finished installing ablation poles on Miers glacier. Miers flow only 10 cm below top of flume. Need to do some protection work to reduce potential for overtopping of wing-walls. Reached +8°C. No problems yet on the Adams. Did four gaugings at the higher flows. Tried to re-survey the lake but too dangerous with large melt pools.
22 Dec.	Spent 2.5 hrs working on the Miers wing-walls but streams attained only moderate flows as heavy overcast all day. Replaced soil thermistor which got flooded in high flows. Replacement PCs arrived from Scott Base at 1600 hrs. Temperature dropped below 0° for the first time for several days.
23 Dec.	Collected the data from all three data loggers and changed the charts on the Foxboros. All streams drying up. All data and programs appear to be alright but loggers need clearing every 3 days. Surveyed ablation poles on the Miers glacier.
24 Dec.	Set up ablation poles on the Adams. Glacier heavily ablated around eastern side adjacent to Keyhole Pass. All streams almost dry and back to levels of one month ago.
25 Dec.	Christmas Day. Did nothing except eat and drink. Weather very windy and unpleasant. Wrote a gauging program for the Psion.
26 Dec.	Collected data from the Adams and Miers stations. Overhauled the generator, plug, oil, filter etc and this now goes well again.page 41
27 Dec.	Found missing benchmarks up the Adams and worked on ablation survey on the Miers. Fine adjust on the theodolite broken.
28 Dec.	Installed 15 ablation poles on the Adams glacier. Surveyed the lower end of the Miers glacier and linked this to the valley network.
29 Dec.	Collected data from all the data loggers. No flow below Lake Miers and the pond now dry. Initial flow must have been from melt of snow and ice within the channel below the lake itself.
30 Dec.	Snowed all day but managed to mark the various benchmarks with Terrier bolts. Surveyed the control close to Miers hut.
31 Dec.	Checked all stream gaugings using Psion program. Continued with surveying. 50 mm fresh snow first thing.
1 Jan.	Cleared data from the various loggers. Too much snow to go to the Garwood. Surveyed the control close to Miers hut.
2 Jan.	Marked benchmarks at the eastern end of the lake and visited the beach at McMurdo Sound. Put in the survey control on the Adams and surveyed the ablation poles. Snowed in the evening.
3 Jan.	Measured ablation poles on the Adams. Weather poor.
4 Jan.	Collected the data from Adams and Miers sites. Strong winds.
5 Jan.	Collected the data from below Lake Miers. Surveyed the ablation poles and control up the Adams glacier. Wilson left one month early for Scott Base and New Zealand.
6 Jan.	Gauged streams for the rating curves (4 on the Miers and 1 on the Adams) to fill gaps. Marked the survey control up the Miers. Linked up ablation control on the Adams to valley network.
7 Jan.	Cleared data from Miers and Adams sites. Went to the Garwood to service the recorder and do some gaugings. Finished the Adams ablation control.
8 Jan.	Carried out 2 gaugings at Garwood recorder and 3 in the lower valley. Returned to the Miers in cold, gusty conditions.
9 Jan.	Worked on photogrammetric control for use with air photographs. Marked control on the Adams glacier face.
11 Jan.	Surveyed three profiles through the swales and moraines on the north side of the valley across the delta. Started survey of the Miers glacier face.
12 Jan.	Did seven gaugings of the Miers and Adams. Peak flows since 21 December. Continued survey of the Miers glacier face.
13 Jan.	Climbed the "Heart". Gauged the peak flow for the Adams (SG 0.390 m) in excess of 0.5 cumecs and Miers at SG 0.365 m. Collected data from the Adams and Miers.
14 Jan.	Did four gaugings, two each of the Adams and Miers. Sampled evaporite deposits below lake. Survey work now essentially finished.page 42
15 Jan.	Did two gaugings on the lower Miers, and worked on the weir. Gauged the Miers at SG 0.097 to tie down the base of the rating curve. Surveyed photogrammetric sites and the ends of Dawson's profiles.
16 Jan.	Collected data from Adams and Miers sites. Took photographs of surveying. Went to lower Miers to gauge stream, check F&P recorder, and to survey lake outlet. Levelled stage plate on the Adams. Returned all the survey gear to camp.
17 Jan.	Spent morning waiting for helo and surveyor. Helo arrived without Pat Sole and then broke down. Marked benchmarks at the Miers snout. Collected samples from the Miers delta to work out volume of water it would hold.
18 Jan.	Helo arrived with Pat Sole. Winchester and Sole departed by helo to check recorder in the Garwood and to shift the camp to the lower Marshall. Went and levelled the Keyhole and Hidden lakes. Snowed non-stop and a few problems experienced with benchmarks at Hidden Lake. Started packing gear.
19 Jan.	Collected data from all sites. All streams frozen and almost dry except below the lake. Photographed gear and electronics. Removed Foxboro recorders and returned them to camp. Packed up samples and gear not being used.
20 Jan.	Packed gear. Sole and Winchester returned from Garwood and Marshall. Retrieved all the data loggers and sensors and packed them for return to New Zealand.
21 Jan.	Packed gear. Sole and Dawson returned to Scott Base. Only one flight possible.
22 Jan.	Sunday so no helo today. Waiting but unable to do anything as gear all packed.
23 Jan.	Returned to Scott Base. Returned all gear, packed event cargo and returned to Christchurch on evening flight.

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