An efficient melting probe for glacial research

In this paper, we present an electric-thermal drill with a novel design of a melting head that was developed within the EnEx-RANGE project. The design combines a short melting head with a large surface area of parabolic shape. It was succesfully tested in the laboratory as well as on Alpine glaciers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of Glaciology
Main Authors: Dirk Heinen, Peter Linder, Simon Zierke, Christopher Wiebusch
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2021
Subjects:
Glaciological instruments and methods
ice engineering
ice shelves
mountain glaciers
Meteorology. Climatology
QC851-999
Ross Ice Shelf
Annals of Glaciology
Antarc*
Antarctica
Ice Shelf
Ice Shelves
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2020.28
https://doaj.org/article/5b800d661cbf46f0a4d56d9e40380ce9
Description
Summary:In this paper, we present an electric-thermal drill with a novel design of a melting head that was developed within the EnEx-RANGE project. The design combines a short melting head with a large surface area of parabolic shape. It was succesfully tested in the laboratory as well as on Alpine glaciers (Langenferner and Mittelbergferner) and at the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. In all these different environments, a high melting speed per specific power of typically 8.8 cm3 w−1 h−1 is achieved that is close to the ideal maximum bound of ~10.5–11.8 cm3 w−1 h−1 when neglecting all heat losses. It has also been demonstrated that the melting probe can be operated with typical equipment of small-scale field camps including a small power generator.

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