III. FIELD PROBLEMS 



One of the problems which faced the investigators was that of 

 keeping the icehole free of ice during the winter. Keeping the 

 space heater going continuously, except when operating the genera- 

 tor, solved most of the difficulty, but on one or two occasions 

 the heater went out and the inside temperature dropped to below 

 zero. Despite this, ice never accumulated at the surface of the 

 icehole to a greater thickness than about 10 inches and, when it 

 did form, it was usually only a skim or at most a few inches. This 

 was easily chopped and shoveled out of the hole. During the winter, 

 a 6,000 watt Navy electric immersion heater was installed in the 

 hole and kept going whenever the generator was running. This was 

 of considerable help in keeping the hole free of ice. In the spring, 

 trouble was experienced with ice forming three to five feet down 

 along all sides of the sheet metal lining. This became thick enough 

 to prevent using the Ekman current meter. Chopping with Ice chisels, 

 drilling with the Jiffy drill, circulating warmer air with an 

 electric fan, and bubbling water from the surface finally overcame 

 this difficulty, and the hole was kept completely free of Ice. A 

 lone seal, who discovered and made his home in and near the icehole 

 for a month in early spring, also aided in circulating the water 

 in the hole and melting the formed ice. During the summer a number 

 of seals became a real nuisance; three of them at a time trying to 

 get up in the icehole for air. Current observations finally had to 

 be discontinued because of the seals. Their fondness for rubbing 

 their backs along the winch wire, completely distorting direction 

 recording in the Ekman meter. There were at least seven seals at 

 the hole at one time, as some of the biologists painted numerals 

 on their heads when they came up, thus Identifying them in this way. 



Another problem encountered at the icehole was snow accumulation. 

 (Plates XXVI through XXVIII). The hut soon became drifted up to the 

 eaves on two sides, the others being kept clear for a space by winds. 

 The door faced north and heavy winds from the south during the winter 

 soon piled the snow to the roof on this side. This necessitated 

 shoveling ones way in on most trips to the icehole. During a few of 

 the most severe storms, a little snow was blown Inside. Most of 

 this snow came up through the icehole where minute cracks outside 

 and between the top of the liner and the deck allowed very strong 

 winds to force their way in. However, the worst trouble with snow 

 accumulation was the piling up of six-foot drifts all around the hut. 

 The weight of this accumulation caused the ice to sink, and this 

 brought the water level in the icehole higher and higher until it 

 was feared that Van der Hoven's measures might have to be adopted and 

 a false deck built to get above the water. However, bulldozing away 



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