27. March 2009

Instrumentation of a Store Norske borehole at the Breinosa mountain in central Spitsbergen

Contact person for additional information: Håvard Juliussen

Text and photos by Håvard Juliussen, UNIS

The drill rig on Breinosa (left). Close-up of the installation (right). The termistor-string and datalogger is installed inside the yellow PVC tube.

In close cooperation with the mining company Store Norske, equipment for temperature monitoring was installed 9 March in one of Store Norske’s recently drilled boreholes at the Breinosa mountain in central Spitsbergen, about 10 km SE of Longyearbyen. The 335 m deep hole was drilled for geological prospecting.

Temperature is now being monitored in the upper 10m of the borehole. The borehole is located 677 m a.s.l. and is currently TSP-NORWAY's highest-lying borehole with permafrost temperature monitoring.

It was the close communication with Store Norske that made it possible for TSP-NORWAY to install the casing and temperature string before the drill rig was moved and the hole collapsed. Similar opportunities to instrument boreholes for additional permafrost temperature monitoring will be used also in the future.