Mission Accomplished!

We officially terminated HQ drilling last night at the depth of 1011.08 meters below sea floor (mbsf), just below our target depth of 1000 mbsf. Hats off to the drillers!

A picture from the drill site to commemorate crossing the 1000 mbsf mark and one from the Crary night shift:

Even though we've hit our target depth, there is still a lot of work to be done. A group of scientists went out to the drill site today to do measurements on the bore hole. Over the next couple of days, they will be sending various instruments down the hole to collect data about the physical properties of the rocks.

Back here at Crary, we still have ~200m of core to log and sample. About the time we get caught up, the drill site is going to be drilling another 50m or so to perform an experiment at the bottom of the hole, so we'll have to log that. That should bring us to the beginning of December or so, where the focus will shift to writing up the results and on-ice report. When that's done, we'll have to pack up all of the gear and get it ready to ship home. Busy, busy, busy.