An international team has drilled the longest ever sediment core from under an ice sheet, providing a record stretching back millions of years that will help climate scientists forecast the fate of the ice sheet in our warming world.
An international team has drilled the longest ever sediment core from under an ice sheet, providing a record stretching back millions of years that will help climate scientists forecast the fate of the ice sheet in our warming world.
The 228-metre core of ancient mud and rock was drilled from under 523m of ice. This game-changing scientific and technological achievement took place more than 700km from the nearest Antarctic stations (New Zealand’s Scott Base, and the United States’ McMurdo Station), at a deep-field camp at Crary Ice Rise on the edge of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
The sediment core holds an archive of past environmental conditions from warmer periods in Earth’s history – vital information for climate scientists to determine how much and how fast the ice sheet will melt in the future under our warming climate.
Read more at: University of Exeter
Drillers on the SWAIS2C expedition pull part of their record-breaking sediment core to the surface. (Photo Credit Ana Tovey)
