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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
It is a historic milestone for climate research: an international research team involving the Alfred Wegener Institute has successfully drilled a 2,800 metre-long ice core , reaching the bedrock beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. In the fourth Antarctic season of the European Commission-funded project "Beyond EPICA - Oldest Ice", the team was able to drill ice that contains a continuous record of the history of our climate as far back as 1.2 million years ago - and probably beyond. The previous age record comes from the EPICA core drilled in 2004, which depicts the atmosphere of the last 800,000 years.
“We have marked a historic moment for climate and environmental science” comments Carlo Barbante, professor at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, senior associate member of the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy (Cnr-Isp) and coordinator of Beyond EPICA. “This is the longest continuous record of our past climate from an ice core, and it can reveal the interlink between the carbon cycle and temperature of our planet. This achievement was made possible through the extraordinary collaboration of various European research institutions and the dedicated work of scientists and logistical personnel in the field over the last ten years.” The project also benefits from the synergy with the EU-funded ITN DEEPICE project, which contributed three PhD candidates to this field campaign.
“From preliminary analyses recorded at Little Dome C, we have a strong indication that the uppermost 2,480 meters contain a climate record that goes back to 1.2 million years in a high-resolution record where up to 13,000 years are compressed into one meter of ice”, reports Julien Westhoff, chief scientist in the field, postdoc at Copenhagen university.
The principal investigator in the field, Frank Wilhelms, glaciologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and professor at Göttingen University reports from Antarctica: “It is fascinating that we have now really been able to drill ice between 800,000 and 1.2 million years old exactly where we had predicted it based on our preliminary explorations: in the depth range between 2426 and 2490 metres.” This period is the transition of the middle Pleistocene, when glacial cycles slowed down from 41,000-year to 100,000-year intervals. Earth’s orbital parameters such as tilt angle, solar radiation and ice albedo determine these cycles. But why the reaction of the Earth system has suddenly shifted in this way is still one of the greatest mysteries of climate science, which this project aims to solve. Understanding the frequency of glacial cycles is not only important for the past history of the planet and humanity, but also for our future. Frank Wilhelms continues: “The identification of the correct location in the first phase of Beyond EPICA - Oldest Ice using cutting-edge radio echo sounding technologies and ice flow modeling has worked extremely well. We have now added an important phase in the Earth’s history to the EPICA ice core record we obtained twenty years ago.”
Below the ice harbouring the climate record of more than 1.2 million years, the lowest 210 meters of the ice core above the bedrock consist of old ice that is heavily deformed, possibly mixed or refrozen and of unknown origin. Advanced analysis could help test previous theories about the behavior of refrozen ice under the Antarctic ice sheet and reveal East Antarctica’s glaciation history.
The European teams in the field have accomplished an impressive achievement: a total of more than 200 days of successful drilling and ice core processing operations across four field seasons in the harsh environment of the central Antarctic plateau at an altitude of 3,200 meters above sea level and with an average summer temperature of -35°C. The valuable ice cores that have now been drilled will be transported back to Europe on board the icebreaker Laura Bassi. Maintaining the cold chain at -50°C will be a logistical challenge. The research consortium has constructed specialized cold containers, which the Italian National Antarctic Research Programme (PNRA) plans to use for shipping to Europe. Local drill master and AWI glaciologist Matthias Hüther is already looking forward: “When the cores arrive at the AWI in early summer for further processing in our ice laboratory in Bremerhaven, we’ll be hosting many international scientists and dear friends, and we’re sure to make many more exciting unplanned discoveries together.” The research team will leave Antarctica by plane at the end of January.
Once the ice cores are in Europe, the project will focus on analysing the ice samples to uncover the history of the Earth’s climate and atmosphere over the last 1.2 million years and probably beyond. In the lowest sections of the core, there may even be older ice from before the Quaternary period. The underlying rocks will be dated to find out when this region of Antarctica was last ice-free.
About Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice:
This project has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 815384. The project has also been supported by national partners and funding agencies in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Consortium:
ISP-CNR - The Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy (Italy) – Lead Partner
AWI - Alfred-Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (Germany)
BAS - British Antarctic Survey (UK)
IPEV - The French Polar Institute (France)
ENEA - The National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (Italy)
CNRS - The National Scientific Research Centre (France)
UU - The Utrecht University (Netherlands)
NPI - The Norwegian Polar Institute (Norway)
SU - The University of Stockholm (Sweden)
UBERN - The University of Bern (Switzerland)
UCPH - The University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
ULB - The Brussels University (Belgium)
Prof Dr Frank Wilhelms (e-mail: frank.wilhelms@awi.de)
http://www.awi.de/en/about-us/service/press.html
Ice core from a depth of 2800 metres
PNRA/IPEV
Alfred Wegener Institute / PNRA/IPEV
Aerial view research camp Little Dome C Antarctica
PNRA/IPEV
Alfred Wegener Institute / PNRA/IPEV
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Ice core from a depth of 2800 metres
PNRA/IPEV
Alfred Wegener Institute / PNRA/IPEV
Aerial view research camp Little Dome C Antarctica
PNRA/IPEV
Alfred Wegener Institute / PNRA/IPEV
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