Clean subglacial access: prospects for future deep hot-water drilling
Clean subglacial access: prospects for future deep hot-water drilling
Accessing and sampling subglacial environments deep beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet presents several challenges to existing drilling technologies. With over half of the ice sheet believed to be resting on a wet bed, drilling down to this environment must conform to international agreements on environmental stewardship and protection, making clean hot-water drilling the most viable option. Such a drill, and its water recovery system, must be capable of accessing significantly greater ice depths than previous hot-water drills, and remain fully operational after connecting with the basal hydrological system. The Subglacial Lake Ellsworth (SLE) project developed a comprehensive plan for deep (greater than 3000?m) subglacial lake research, involving the design and development of a clean deep-ice hot-water drill. However, during fieldwork in December 2012 drilling was halted after a succession of equipment issues culminated in a failure to link with a subsurface cavity and abandonment of the access holes. The lessons learned from this experience are presented here. Combining knowledge gained from these lessons with experience from other hot-water drilling programmes, and recent field testing, we describe the most viable technical options and operational procedures for future clean entry into SLE and other deep subglacial access targets.
20140304
Makinson, Keith
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Pearce, David
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Hodgson, Dominic A.
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Bentley, Michael J.
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Smith, Andrew M.
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Tranter, Martyn
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Rose, Mike
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Ross, Neil
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Mowlem, Matt
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Parnell, John
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Siegert, Martin J.
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January 2016
Makinson, Keith
b5c9e9d2-9b60-4cb4-9192-61dddd2edcca
Pearce, David
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Hodgson, Dominic A.
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Bentley, Michael J.
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Smith, Andrew M.
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Tranter, Martyn
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Rose, Mike
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Ross, Neil
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Mowlem, Matt
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Parnell, John
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Siegert, Martin J.
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Makinson, Keith, Pearce, David, Hodgson, Dominic A., Bentley, Michael J., Smith, Andrew M., Tranter, Martyn, Rose, Mike, Ross, Neil, Mowlem, Matt, Parnell, John and Siegert, Martin J.
(2016)
Clean subglacial access: prospects for future deep hot-water drilling.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 374 (2059), .
(doi:10.1098/rsta.2014.0304).
Abstract
Accessing and sampling subglacial environments deep beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet presents several challenges to existing drilling technologies. With over half of the ice sheet believed to be resting on a wet bed, drilling down to this environment must conform to international agreements on environmental stewardship and protection, making clean hot-water drilling the most viable option. Such a drill, and its water recovery system, must be capable of accessing significantly greater ice depths than previous hot-water drills, and remain fully operational after connecting with the basal hydrological system. The Subglacial Lake Ellsworth (SLE) project developed a comprehensive plan for deep (greater than 3000?m) subglacial lake research, involving the design and development of a clean deep-ice hot-water drill. However, during fieldwork in December 2012 drilling was halted after a succession of equipment issues culminated in a failure to link with a subsurface cavity and abandonment of the access holes. The lessons learned from this experience are presented here. Combining knowledge gained from these lessons with experience from other hot-water drilling programmes, and recent field testing, we describe the most viable technical options and operational procedures for future clean entry into SLE and other deep subglacial access targets.
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Published date: January 2016
Organisations:
Ocean Technology and Engineering
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Local EPrints ID: 385279
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/385279
ISSN: 1364-503X
PURE UUID: 35791c13-493b-45cf-bfce-1c0f8d3d8ea0
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Date deposited: 21 Dec 2015 16:09
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:02
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Author:
Keith Makinson
Author:
David Pearce
Author:
Dominic A. Hodgson
Author:
Michael J. Bentley
Author:
Andrew M. Smith
Author:
Martyn Tranter
Author:
Mike Rose
Author:
Neil Ross
Author:
Matt Mowlem
Author:
John Parnell
Author:
Martin J. Siegert
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