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Equipment used in the field survey consisted of the Scintrex Smartmag 4 portable cesium magnetometer, and a Knudsen 320A through-ice echo sounder provided by CHS. It was determined that with the magnetometer mounted on a sled pulled 10m behind a snowmobile that a 200m line spacing should be adequate to detect the expected signal from a wreck of the reported characteristics of either the EREBUS or TERROR.
Figure 1: Pouring vegetable oil into hole before inserting echo sounder head
Figure 2: Magnetometer sensor in caribou cover
The field party spent the period from May 6th to 20th in the Arctic, the actual survey commencing near Grant Pt on the 9th and finishing on the 16th. In all the survey completed 477 km of survey line at an average speed of 10 km/hr and covered over 166 km2 of area. This doubled the area coverage of the two prior boat-based surveys combined and demonstrated the efficiency of working over the ice. In addition 109 soundings were taken at 1000 m intervals as a preliminary reconnaisance survey.
Figure 3: 2001 survey showing planned (red lines) and completed (blue lines) survey tracks.
The remaining unsurveyed area of the planned northern survey is 22 km2. Most of this area was covered by the echo-sounding party and found to be consistently shallower than 20m, and it therefore can probably be eliminated as a likely spot for the wreck. It is felt that the area was covered with sufficient accuracy to preclude "missing" a target with the wreck’s expected characteristics. All magnetometer data is being analysed with an expected completion date of September 2001. All sounding data has been turned over to the Canadian Hydrographic Service.