ADRILL Cores to Be Analysed at Florida State University
30.04.2008 - Logistics, Other
The sediment cores extracted during the ANDRILL project (Antarctic Geological Drilling) are now stored in the "cold room" at Florida State University to be studied. Through the analysis of these cores extracted from deep beneath the sea floor of Antarctica's western Ross Sea, scientists hope to gain new insight into the climate fluctuations that occurred in Antarctica between 20 and 14 million years ago.
In fact, these cores will fill in a major gap in the record of the transition from times warmer than today to the onset of a major cooling that occurred between 14 to 13 million years ago, when a semi-permanent ice sheet formed across most of Antarctica. By correlating that stratigraphic record with existing data and climate and ice sheet models, scientists expect to learn how local changes in the Southern Ocean region relate to regional and global climate events.
Such knowledge will significantly increase our understanding of Antarctica's potential responses to future global-scale climate changes, which, considering the impact the Antarctic Ice Shet can potentially have on sea level rise, is of paramount interest for the large number of people living in coastal areas.
