"In August 2004 I became not only the first Cameroonian ever to set foot on the North Pole, but I also successfully completed the first ever wireline logging job of a borehole so close to the North Pole."

Alain Kayo set two world records

Alain Kayo
Schlumberger QHSE Manager

I joined Schlumberger in 1995. During the next nine years, I worked all over west and Central Africa. In 2004 I was transferred to Aberdeen, Scotland. I was born in Douala, Cameroon, where the average minimum temperature at any time of the year is 22° C (72° F). As I write this article, it is 0° C (32° F), and there has been so much snow that some schools have been closed. I thought that Aberdeen was quite cold enough, but after just a few months here, I was asked to go to the North Pole! I have always been very competitive, so I was thrilled to accept this opportunity. It led to the establishment of two world records: I became not only the first Cameroonian ever to set foot on the North Pole, but I also successfully completed the first ever wireline logging job of a borehole so close to the North Pole.

Although I had expected to see hundreds of polar bears, I saw only five while on our journey to the Pole. It was a unique privilege to be able to see them in their natural habitat. Photo courtesy of A. Gerdes, IODP

The opportunity was made possible by the Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX). This six-week-long expedition was the first in a series of internationally funded scientific projects. The goal of these projects is to research the history of our ocean basins and the rocks below the sea floor. The objective of the ACEX project was to drill boreholes through the Arctic ice and extract cores of sedimentary rock from deeper beneath the seabed than had ever been done before. The British Geological Society (BGS) coordinated the expedition. BGS contracted Schlumberger to log the boreholes in order to provide more details of the rock types and accurate measurements of their depths.

…more Science Watch articles about…
Air & Space Watch
Earth Watch
Inventing Our World
People in Motion