September 1, 1:30 pm  Update on the Coast Guard Search and Recovery Mission in Greenland


From HDNet World Report producer Phil Maravilla in Greenland:

The entire team is hanging tough, but the rain has been relentless, and that means the work is going slowly, or almost not at all.

Despite some early ‘hits,’ the plane hasn’t yet been found. After the radar ‘hits’ something, a bore hole is then dropped …  The hit is no guarantee.  After the bore hole is drilled the depth of the hit, a small cylindrical camera is dropped into the hole, which becomes filled entirely with water.  The small cam is outfitted with 20 LED lights on its perimeter.  As it lowers into the hole, the camera records an image that is similar to a colonoscopy.  So far, the camera has shown that none of the bore holes have hit a target.

The science team says all the rain water is bad for sensing anything beneath the ice, because it is dense and registers differently from ice. The rain falls into cracks in the ice, and fills the crevices.  The water throws off the readings that distinguish bedrock.

This morning, Paul Beban went with North South Polar’s Lou Sapienza to explore a ridge where Lou speculates could be a secondary or third-option crash site. If the weather improves, they will head back out today. My guess: today is a wash.