The NORSAR trio Nils K. Schøyen, Morten Hervik and Ravn Rydtun can enthusiastically report from Antarctica that everything is going according to plan and the new station, an hour’s track vehicle drive from Troll, has been set up.

“The facility is up and running and sending data. We still need to adjust the instruments before the data is usable. There are a few small improvements to be made before we reach the final test phase,” says Morten.

Over the past week they have completed the installation. The container is fully built and the batteries are charged by the solar panel. The final infrasound installations have also been built.

“The work as a whole has gone surprisingly well. It was a big task, we don’t hide that, but following the ‘how to eat an elephant’ principle, we’ve taken one bite at a time,” explains Ravn and continues.

“The best thing now is to see all parts of the project fitting together and working. We are in good spirits and ready for the last weeks and completion.”

“We have now completed most of our work and there remains some troubleshooting on our diesel generator.”

• Installed 10 seismic points, meaning ten seismometers lowered into steel wells placed in boreholes at 4 metres depth.

• Installed 9 infrasound points, meaning assembly of these “shower heads” – wind noise reduction branches, which will eliminate pressure and wind noise caused by the wind.

• Transported the container out with the assistance of the Norwegian Polar Institute and one of their “Troll beasts” (Prinoth Panther XL), a massive tracked transport machine.

• Assembled the steel framework around the container, which holds the solar panels (12 units), wind turbines (3 units) and communication equipment (mobile data antenna and Starlink in redundancy).

• The steel frames and container were supplied by Varia, the diesel generator by Coromatic, wind turbines by APRS World, communication by COM4 and UPS, while solar panels were supplied by DELTA.

• 8 lead batteries serving as a buffer bank for wind turbine charging.

• Installed 20 x 250Ah lithium batteries, 63kg each. These are hopefully charged by the wind turbines during the polar night so that the diesel generator can be used as little as possible.

Without any charging, this UPS can keep the station running for 3 weeks.

Background
 

In close and good cooperation with the Norwegian Polar Institute, a seismo-acoustic array station is to be established, funded by the Research Council of Norway. A network of several seismometers and infrasound sensors (acoustic sensors) placed in a geometric pattern to improve detection, localisation and characterisation of seismic events (such as earthquakes, explosions, volcanic activity) and atmospheric sound.

It was originally to be established at Troll, but because the government decided to upgrade the Troll research station and among other things build a wind power station for green energy, NORSAR had to move the measurement station away from this facility. The direct cause is the noise the wind turbines will create. Additional funding for moving the station came from the Ministry of Climate and Environment (KLD).

Morten and Ravn explain what they have been working on since New Year’s:
 

The time has mostly been spent on container work. The container arrived a couple of days after New Year’s with transport from the ice edge. They were delayed a few days due to bad weather on the way in and had to stop until conditions improved.

We unloaded the container and built and fixed the walls on it. The transport out was carried out with one of the station’s “Troll beasts”. A 50-ton monster with side loader for loading and transporting containers. In short, a tracked truck. We had to wait a few days as the route up to Armlenet had to be re-secured with ground-penetrating radar. During the previous transport of an excavator out to Armlenet, one of these machines barely broke through the ice. We received the green light and set off.

After a three-hour drive, we got to Armlenet with the precious cargo and placed it on the base frame. We bolted the top and bottom frames together using various straps and pulleys to press everything tightly together. Finally, we built a platform and stairs for access to the container.

We have had a few days of bad weather, which allowed us to test how the construction holds up. Now work has begun to convert this into a power station. We will install one tonne of batteries, along with solar panels and wind turbines. When we have electricity up and running, we can begin adjusting the sensors and receiving the first data.

It is a full storm here now, so we are not working on the station as long as the storm rages.