Antarctic subglacial drilling rig: Part I. General concept and drilling shelter structure

Abstract

Drilling to the bedrock of ice sheets and glaciers offers unique opportunities for examining the processes occurring in the bed. Basal and subglacial materials contain important paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental records and provide a unique habitat for life; they offer significant information regarding the sediment deformation beneath glaciers and its effects on the subglacial hydraulic system and geology. The newly developed and tested Antarctic subglacial drilling rig (ASDR) is designed to recover ice and bedrock core samples from depths of up to 1400 m. All of the drilling equipment is installed inside a movable, sledge-mounted, temperature-controlled and wind-protected drilling shelter and workshop. To facilitate helicopter unloading of the research vessel, the shelter and workshop can be disassembled, with individual parts weighing <2–3 tons. The entire ASDR system weighs ~55 tons, including transport packaging. The ASDR is designed to be transported to the chosen site via snow vehicles and would be ready for drilling operations within 2–3 d after arrival. The ASDR was tested during the 2018–2019 summer season near Zhongshan Station, East Antarctica. At the test site, 2-week drilling operations resulted in a borehole that reached bedrock at a depth of 198 m.

Antarctic subglacial drilling rig: Part II. Ice and Bedrock Electromechanical Drill (IBED)

“…The design efforts mainly focused on the reliability and unification of different drill components. Three related papers describe the general concept of the drilling rig (Talalay and others, 2021), auxiliaries (Fan and others, 2021) and control system (Zhang and others, 2021).…”

Antarctic subglacial drilling rig: Part IV. Electrical and electronic control system

“…An effective data acquisition and drilling process control is the guarantee for the quality of the borehole and core samples. The control system was tested during the 2018–2019 summer season near Zhongshan Station, East Antarctica in a course of drilling to the bedrock at a depth of 198 m. Three related papers describe the general concept of the drilling rig (Talalay and others, 2021 a ), Ice and Bedrock Electromechanical Drill (IBED) (Talalay and others, 2021 b ) and auxiliaries (Fan and others, 2021).…”

Antarctic subglacial drilling rig: Part III. Drilling auxiliaries and environmental measures

“…The Antarctic subglacial drilling rig (ASDR) is designed to recover 105 mm-diameter ice cores from depths of 1400 m and 41.5 mm-diameter bedrock cores from depths of 2 m (Talalay and others, 2017; Talalay and others, 2021a). Keeping in mind the shortcomings of conventional deep core-drilling technology, such as long construction periods and multi-year drilling sites, the ASDR uses a movable working shelter design, which can be ready for drilling operations in 2–3 d after arrival at the chosen site.…”