Brief communication: The Danish replicate drilling system - Results from the first field test

Abstract

We report on the successful test of a new replicate drilling system for ice cores. The test was done in drill fluid, at 140 m depth in the East Greenland Ice Core Project (EastGRIP) borehole in central Greenland. A groove is first cut on the uphill side of the borehole wall using a broaching process. This groove is then used to guide a milling tool to produce a circular notch and ledge in the downhill side of the borehole. Gravity would now guide the ice core drill into this newly formed notch diverging from the parent borehole, gradually producing full-diameter replicate ice cores.