Antarctic Ice Cores - 2002 metres deep as the year 2002 arrives

Press contact: Jens Degett, ESF,  +33 (0)3 88 76 71 32

In the first week of the New Year a team of European scientists reached successfully the depth of 2002 metres of ice at the site of Dome Concordia high on East Antarctica’s plateau - one of the most hostile places on the planet.  The team, working on a seven-year Antarctic ice core programme to discover the history of the Earth’s climate and atmosphere, report that ice from this depth came from snow that fell 170,000 years ago, when the region was 10ºC colder than it is today. 

The 22-person team of scientists and drilling experts taking part in the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) have created a laboratory and drilling platform on the ice.  Working in maximum temperatures of -20ºC, it takes about 1.5 hours to drill and bring to the surface each 3 m-long ice core.  After analysis on site the cores are sent to over 30 different European laboratories for detailed study.  The team will return to Antarctica next year to drill to the bottom of the ice, which is 3.3km thick, to produce a history of climate and atmospheric composition for the last half a million years. 

January also marks the start of drilling for a new EPICA ice core at Dronning Maud Land (DML), one of the least explored regions of Antarctica, 3,000 km from Dome C on the opposite side of the continent.  Cores from Dome C will provide the longest possible record of the past atmosphere.  The DML site receives double the snowfall of Dome C, and this ice core will  provide even more detailed information, although it will not reach so far back in time.  Scientists measure impurities in the air bubbles trapped in the ice to investigate the link between climate and greenhouse gases. 

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Contact

For more information contact:

Belgium: Roland Souchez
+ 32 2 6502227
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Denmark : J. P. Steffensen
+ 45 35 32 05 57
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Niels Gundestrup :
+ 45 35 32 05 53
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France: Jean Jouzel
+ 33 1 69 08 77 13
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Gérard jugie :
+33 2 98 05 65 02
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Dominique Raynaud
  + 33 4 76 82 42 45
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Germany: Hartwig Gernandt,
+49 471 4831 1160
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Hans Oerter,
+49 471 4831 1347
typo3/esf_contacts_form.php?unit=11&contact=104(away from office 16-20 Jan)

Italy: Guisseppe Orombelli
+39 02 6448 2857/2855
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Mario Zucchelli
+ 39 06 30 48 49 39
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Netherlands: Johannes Oerlemans
+ 31 30 25 33 272 
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Norway: Jan – Gunnar Winther
+ 47 77 75 05 31
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Sweden : Margareta Hansson
  + 46 8 674 7865
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Switzerland: Bernhard Stauffer
  + 41 31 631 44 67
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UK:  David Peel
  + 44 1223 221478
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ESF contact: Svenje Mehlert
  + 33 38876 71 21

Note for editors

EPICA (European Ice Core Project in Antarctica) is a consortium of 10 European countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK). EPICA  is co-ordinated by the European Science Foundation (ESF), and funded by  the  participating countries and by the European Union.

The EPICA research team is investigating the relationship between the chemistry of the atmosphere and climate changes over the past 500,000 years, especially the changes caused by carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxides.  The results will be used to test and enhance computer models used to predict future climate. 

Earlier joint European studies of Greenland ice cores discovered several periods of very unstable climates in the past, which may have implications for the climate of Europe if there is sustained warming in the future. 

The Antarctic fieldwork is challenging both scientifically and environmentally. Dome C (75° 06'S, 123° 23' E) and Dronning Maud Land (75° S, 0° E/W)  are some of the most hostile places on the planet, and average temperatures are below – 44 degrees Celsius.  Researchers travel by tractor over thousands of kilometres of featureless snow where blizzards are common. 

Picture editors:  Photographs and video footage of ice coring are available from IFRTP + 33 2 98 05 65 02

Category: Media Centre, Press Releases 2002