Monitoring of permafrost temperatures at Marble Point and Bull Pass, Wright Valley

Bore holes were drilled in bedrock near existing climate monitoring stations at Marble Point and Bull Pass, Wright Valley to monitor permafrost temperatures at depths of up to 30m and to drill till material to recover ice cemented core for biological and geochemical analyses. 2 m of ice-cemented core was retrieved at Marble Point and 7.5 m of ice-cemented core was obtained from Bull Pass. Initial temperatures were measured in the bedrock boreholes and solar-powered data loggers were installed to monitor temperature down the boreholes at a range of depths up to 29 m.

The data logger records temperature every 6 hours from a string of 16 thermistors positioned at various depths down the boreholes.