Short news from WAIS
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Centre for Ice and Climate collaborates with the WAIS Divide team (West Antarctic Ice Sheet). This year Bo M. Vinther from Centre for Ice and Climate participates in the project. Read here his first news directly from WAIS. |
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Last years ice core soon packed at WAIS
After a series of weather delays the WAIS ice core project is now almost fully manned.
While work has been ongoing to dig out the building housing the DISC ice core drill and prepare for this years ice core drilling, the ice core logging team has kept them self (very) busy packing the ice that was drilled last year.
Last years ice had to overwinter here in Antarctica, as it is from the so called "brittle zone" where ice is very fragile until it has had time to relax after being drilled.
The team of 11 core handlers has by now managed to pack the first 650 meters of the grand total of 930 meters of ice core drilled last year.
We are all amazed at how nice last years ice is to handle after the year of relaxation. The plan is to pack the remaing 280 meters of ice by Dec 7, so we can be able to set up the ice core logging tables for Dec 10, when the drillers estimate that drilling will commence.
A Pistenbully with a twin-fan snowblower is digging out the housing the DISC ice core drill.
By Bo Møllesøe Vinther, post.doc
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The ice core being drilled at WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) Divide can be considered a sister core to the ice cores from Central Greenland. The ice thickness, the annual snow accumulation and the annual temperature are similar for the two locations, and comparing data from similar sites on both hemispheres will lead to new detailed knowledge on climate behavior during the last glacial cycle, i.e. the last 100,000 years.
The season 2008-2009 Susanne Lilja Buchardt from Centre for Ice and Climate was part of the field crew and the season 2007-2008 Trevor Popp and Inger Seierstad participated - both Centre for Ice and Climate members.
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