WorldWide Drilling Resource

Quest for a Million Year Ice Core Adapted from Information by the Australian Antarctic Division Australia is getting ready to lead an international project aimed at drilling an ice core in Antarctica containing a one million year record of the earth’s climate. Antarctic ice cores contain carbon dioxide, sulphur, sea salt, and dust, which provide crucial information on past climate and climate processes. A one million year record is significant because it spans a time when ice age cycles shifted their pacing from 41,000 years duration to 100,000 years duration. While it’s not known what caused this shift, an ice core covering this period would allow scientists to extract a direct record of car- bon dioxide and see what role it may have played. Australia’s contribution to international geophysical sur- veys across the region has helped narrow the location of ice, with a leading prospect near Dome C. This location needs to have thick ice with fine annual layers and be free from melting at the base from geothermal heat. The first traverse in support of the Australian component of the project is expected to occur in the 2019-20 season, with delivery of much of the mobile station, drill camp infra- structure, and equipment. This will include an ice core drilling shelter, core storage, and drill workshop facilities. The site will accommodate up to 16 people. A new fleet of heavy tracked vehicles will support deep field operations by increasing the ability to rapidly move large quantities of cargo and equipment deep inland in all weather conditions. The new system will have five heavy tractors and two snow groomers which will tow sled trains carrying food supplies, accommodation, communal areas, scientific facilities, power generation, and fuel. These new capabilities open up the Antarctic interior to ambitious sci- ence projects, including the search for the earth’s longest continuous ice core climate record. Scientists and engineers at the Australian Antarctic Division have also started working on a new drill design for the project which is capable of extracting ice cores over 9800 feet deep. Many of the components needed are spe- cialist designs which have to be constructed and built in- house. This latest technology will allow the team to recover the best quality cores, drill efficiently, and hopefully get to the bottom of the ice sheet over a three- to four-year drilling period. It is anticipated there will be seven or eight people work- ing two shifts of eight to nine hours on the drill. The goal is to drill about 500 feet per week. This would mean over a field season of six to eight weeks, the team would drill 2900- 3900 feet of ice core in each full season. 16 APRIL 2019 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® ENV