Articles | Volume 12, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-12-121-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-12-121-2023
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
14 Jul 2023
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 14 Jul 2023

Design and performance of the Hotrod melt-tip ice-drilling system

William Colgan, Christopher Shields, Pavel Talalay, Xiaopeng Fan, Austin P. Lines, Joshua Elliott, Harihar Rajaram, Kenneth Mankoff, Morten Jensen, Mira Backes, Yunchen Liu, Xianzhe Wei, Nanna B. Karlsson, Henrik Spanggård, and Allan Ø. Pedersen

Related authors

Evaluating different geothermal heat-flow maps as basal boundary conditions during spin-up of the Greenland ice sheet
Tong Zhang, William Colgan, Agnes Wansing, Anja Løkkegaard, Gunter Leguy, William H. Lipscomb, and Cunde Xiao
The Cryosphere, 18, 387–402, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-387-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-387-2024, 2024
Short summary
The historical Greenland Climate Network (GC-Net) curated and augmented level-1 dataset
Baptiste Vandecrux, Jason E. Box, Andreas P. Ahlstrøm, Signe B. Andersen, Nicolas Bayou, William T. Colgan, Nicolas J. Cullen, Robert S. Fausto, Dominik Haas-Artho, Achim Heilig, Derek A. Houtz, Penelope How, Ionut Iosifescu Enescu, Nanna B. Karlsson, Rebecca Kurup Buchholz, Kenneth D. Mankoff, Daniel McGrath, Noah P. Molotch, Bianca Perren, Maiken K. Revheim, Anja Rutishauser, Kevin Sampson, Martin Schneebeli, Sandy Starkweather, Simon Steffen, Jeff Weber, Patrick J. Wright, Henry Jay Zwally, and Konrad Steffen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5467–5489, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5467-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5467-2023, 2023
Short summary
Greenland and Canadian Arctic ice temperature profiles database
Anja Løkkegaard, Kenneth D. Mankoff, Christian Zdanowicz, Gary D. Clow, Martin P. Lüthi, Samuel H. Doyle, Henrik H. Thomsen, David Fisher, Joel Harper, Andy Aschwanden, Bo M. Vinther, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Harry Zekollari, Toby Meierbachtol, Ian McDowell, Neil Humphrey, Anne Solgaard, Nanna B. Karlsson, Shfaqat A. Khan, Benjamin Hills, Robert Law, Bryn Hubbard, Poul Christoffersen, Mylène Jacquemart, Julien Seguinot, Robert S. Fausto, and William T. Colgan
The Cryosphere, 17, 3829–3845, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3829-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3829-2023, 2023
Short summary
Mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets from 1992 to 2020
Inès N. Otosaka, Andrew Shepherd, Erik R. Ivins, Nicole-Jeanne Schlegel, Charles Amory, Michiel R. van den Broeke, Martin Horwath, Ian Joughin, Michalea D. King, Gerhard Krinner, Sophie Nowicki, Anthony J. Payne, Eric Rignot, Ted Scambos, Karen M. Simon, Benjamin E. Smith, Louise S. Sørensen, Isabella Velicogna, Pippa L. Whitehouse, Geruo A, Cécile Agosta, Andreas P. Ahlstrøm, Alejandro Blazquez, William Colgan, Marcus E. Engdahl, Xavier Fettweis, Rene Forsberg, Hubert Gallée, Alex Gardner, Lin Gilbert, Noel Gourmelen, Andreas Groh, Brian C. Gunter, Christopher Harig, Veit Helm, Shfaqat Abbas Khan, Christoph Kittel, Hannes Konrad, Peter L. Langen, Benoit S. Lecavalier, Chia-Chun Liang, Bryant D. Loomis, Malcolm McMillan, Daniele Melini, Sebastian H. Mernild, Ruth Mottram, Jeremie Mouginot, Johan Nilsson, Brice Noël, Mark E. Pattle, William R. Peltier, Nadege Pie, Mònica Roca, Ingo Sasgen, Himanshu V. Save, Ki-Weon Seo, Bernd Scheuchl, Ernst J. O. Schrama, Ludwig Schröder, Sebastian B. Simonsen, Thomas Slater, Giorgio Spada, Tyler C. Sutterley, Bramha Dutt Vishwakarma, Jan Melchior van Wessem, David Wiese, Wouter van der Wal, and Bert Wouters
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1597–1616, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1597-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1597-2023, 2023
Short summary
GBaTSv2: a revised synthesis of the likely basal thermal state of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Joseph A. MacGregor, Winnie Chu, William T. Colgan, Mark A. Fahnestock, Denis Felikson, Nanna B. Karlsson, Sophie M. J. Nowicki, and Michael Studinger
The Cryosphere, 16, 3033–3049, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3033-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3033-2022, 2022
Short summary

Related subject area

System design
Research and application of small-diameter hydraulic fracturing in-situ stress measurement system
Yimin Liu, Mian Zhang, Yixuan Li, Shuai Lu, and Huan Chen
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-2023-13,https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-2023-13, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for GI
Short summary
New ring shear deformation apparatus for three-dimensional multiphase experiments: first results
Shae McLafferty, Haley Bix, Kyle Bogatz, and Jacqueline E. Reber
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 12, 141–154, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-12-141-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-12-141-2023, 2023
Short summary
Towards agricultural soil carbon monitoring, reporting, and verification through the Field Observatory Network (FiON)
Olli Nevalainen, Olli Niemitalo, Istem Fer, Antti Juntunen, Tuomas Mattila, Olli Koskela, Joni Kukkamäki, Layla Höckerstedt, Laura Mäkelä, Pieta Jarva, Laura Heimsch, Henriikka Vekuri, Liisa Kulmala, Åsa Stam, Otto Kuusela, Stephanie Gerin, Toni Viskari, Julius Vira, Jari Hyväluoma, Juha-Pekka Tuovinen, Annalea Lohila, Tuomas Laurila, Jussi Heinonsalo, Tuula Aalto, Iivari Kunttu, and Jari Liski
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 11, 93–109, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-93-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-93-2022, 2022
Short summary
Development of a new centralized data acquisition system for seismic exploration
Feng Guo, Qisheng Zhang, Qimao Zhang, Wenhao Li, Yueyun Luo, Yuefeng Niu, and Shuaiqing Qiao
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 9, 255–266, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-9-255-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-9-255-2020, 2020
Short summary
An autonomous low-power instrument platform for monitoring water and solid discharges in mesoscale rivers
Guillaume Nord, Yoann Michielin, Romain Biron, Michel Esteves, Guilhem Freche, Thomas Geay, Alexandre Hauet, Cédric Legoût, and Bernard Mercier
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 9, 41–67, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-9-41-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-9-41-2020, 2020
Short summary

Cited articles

Aamot, H.: The Philberth probe for investigating polar ice caps, Special Report 119, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 1967. 
Aamot, H.: Instrumented probes for deep glacial investigations, J. Glaciol., 7, 321–328, https://doi.org/10.3189/S0022143000031087, 1968.  
Aamot, H.: Development of a vertically stabilized thermal probe for studies in and below ice sheets, J. Eng. Ind., 92, 263–268, https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3427727, 1970. 
Anker, P., Makinson, K., Nicholls, K., and Smith, A.: The BEAMISH hot water drill system and its use on the Rutford Ice Stream, Antarctica, Ann. Glaciol., 62, 233–249, https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2020.86, 2021. 
Bentley, C., Koci, B., Augustin, L., Bolsey, R., Green, J., Kyne, J., Lebar, D., Mason, W., Shturmakov, A., Engelhardt, H., Harrison, W., Hecht, M., and Zagorodnov, V.: Ice drilling and coring, in: Drilling in extreme environments. Penetration and sampling on earth and other planets, edited by: Bar-Cohen, Y. and Zacny, K., Wiley, 221–308, https://doi.org/10.1002/9783527626625.ch4, 2009. 
Download
Executive editor
The authors have developed a groundbreaking system to investigate the thermal structure of ice sheets, which plays a crucial role in their deformation and, ultimately, their stability. The tangible nature of this cabled system, along with its profound implications for measurements, makes this paper exceptionally intriguing and deserving of special attention.
Short summary
We describe a new drill for glaciers and ice sheets. Instead of drilling down into the ice, via mechanical action, our drill melts into the ice. Our goal is simply to pull a cable of temperature sensors on a one-way trip down to the ice–bed interface. Here, we describe the design and testing of our drill. Under laboratory conditions, our melt-tip drill has an efficiency of ∼ 35 % with a theoretical maximum penetration rate of ∼ 12 m h−1. Under field conditions, our efficiency is just ∼ 15 %.