Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 01/16/2011 - 17:04
Forums
Ice Core Drilling in West Antarctica 2010

Dear Heidi and Team, How long (just an estimate) does it take to actually get out there and drill the core? Also how many people have to go out and help get one? Sincerely, Katie Wilkins

Thu, 02/24/2011 - 10:32

Heidi Roop

Katie,Thank you for your questions. Getting to WAIS Divide takes quite a bit of time. Just flying to Antarctica takes several days and several long flights. Preparing gear and getting proper training also adds time when trying to get to our field site. However, the project it self takes several years. We have been collecting ice at WAIS Divide for several years and the project itself started over eight years ago! So, it is a long process just to collect the ice. Beyond the collection, it will take several more years of scientific analysis before we can really learn from the ice cores.
As far as the number of people who help, there are over one hundred scientists at home working on this project. In the field, it takes about 40 people per season to manage the camp and collect the ice cores.
Whew, what a huge amount of work!!
Cheers,
Heidi