Thermal Ice Drilling Technology

This book provides a review of thermal ice drilling technologies, including the design, parameters, and performance of various tools and drills for making holes in ice sheets, ice caps, mountain glaciers, ice shelves, and sea ice. In recent years, interest in thermal drilling technology has increased as a result of subglacial lake explorations and extraterrestrial investigations. The book focuses on the latest ice drilling technologies, but also discusses the historical development of ice drilling tools and devices over the last 100 years to offer valuable insights into what is possible and what not to do in the future. Featuring numerous figures and pictures, many of them published for the first time, it is intended for specialists working in ice-core sciences, polar oceanography, drilling engineers and glaciologists, and is also a useful reference for researchers and graduate students working in engineering and cold-regions technology.

This book provides a review of thermal ice drilling technologies, including the design, parameters, and performance of various tools and drills for making holes in ice sheets, ice caps, mountain glaciers, ice shelves, and sea ice. In recent years, interest in thermal drilling technology has increased as a result of subglacial lake explorations and extraterrestrial investigations. The book focuses on the latest ice drilling technologies, but also discusses the historical development of ice drilling tools and devices over the last 100 years to offer valuable insights into what is possible and what not to do in the future. Featuring numerous figures and pictures, many of them published for the first time, it is intended for specialists working in ice-core sciences, polar oceanography, drilling engineers and glaciologists, and is also a useful reference for researchers and graduate students working in engineering and cold-regions technology.

This book provides a review of mechanical ice drilling technology, including the design, parameters, and performance of various tools and drills for making holes in snow, firn and ice. The material presents the historical development of ice drilling tools and devices from the first experience taken place more than 170 years ago to the present day and focuses on the modern vision of ice drilling technology. It is illustrated with numerous pictures, many of them published for the first time. This book is intended for specialists in ice core sciences, drilling engineers, glaciologists, and can be useful for high-school students and other readers who are very interested in engineering and cold regions technology.

Some of the recently developed ice-drilling hardware has been derived and developed from commercial equipment designed for drilling and coring in rock. The exceptions to this are the specially designed hydro-thermal and electro-thermal drills and corers, which have been developed on sound thermodynamic principles. The hydrothermal, or hot water drilling jet method, which is also applicable to drilling in geomaterials other than ice, has met with great success in rapidly penetrating glaciers and shelf ice even at temperatures well below the freezing point.

Three drill units suitable for drilling in temperature ice are described. They are an electro-thermal corer, an electro-thermal spike and a hydro-thermal drill. The function and field use of these units is briefly discussed.

This book provides a comprehensive review of drilling technologies in the polar regions, from the portable drilling equipment for shallow sampling and coring, to heavy drilling equipment for deep onshore and offshore drilling. Particular attention is given to safe drilling methods in permafrost. In recent years, interest in drilling in the polar regions has increased under the pressure of the geopolitical “rush” and the undiscovered resource potential. In addition, borehole monitoring of permafrost thermal states is urgently needed to obtain evidence of climate change. The book focuses on the latest drilling technologies but also discusses the historical development of sampling, and drilling tools and devices, over the last 60–70 years providing valuable insights into a way forward and future possibilities.