Forums
Ice Core Drilling in West Antarctica 2010

Hi Heidi! Great to see your journals this year! How many ice cores do you hope to get this season? Is there new information in each one? Have a great New Year's and I hope you had a nice Antarctic Christmas. Betsy Wilkening

Sun, 01/02/2011 - 07:23

Heidi Roop

Hi Betsy! Great question! This year we are hoping to collect around 750 meters of ice. The ice we collect this season will contain more climate information than ever before. As we core closer to the base of the ice sheet, the time preserved in each core increases, due to the pressure of the overlying ice. Even though the entire borehole will be ~3,330 meters deep, these last 750 cores will contain around 80,000 years of earth's climate history.
Happy New Year's!
Cheers,
Heidi