Deepest Core from Antarctic Peninsula Could Contain Ice from last Ice Age
13.04.2010 - Atmosphere & Space, Ice & Snow, Antarctic
A new ice core recently retrieved from the Antarctic Peninsula has given scientists from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio hope of finding ice samples dating back to the last ice age. If this is the case, the 445.6-metre ice core - the deepest ever drilled on the peninsula - could provide new insight into past global climate changes.
As part of the larger Larsen Ice Shelf System Antarctica (LARISSA) program, the interdisciplinary project had the goal of determining past climate conditions in this part of the continent and monitor current ocean and atmospheric processes in order to better understand the causes behind the disintegration of the Larsen Ice Shelf in 2002. The project, which involved experts in the oceanography, biology and geology of the region, sought to determine whether the break-up was part of a long-term natural cycle or linked to the recent warming in Antarctica.
Drillings took place between December 31st, 2009 and January 28th, 2010. The retrieved cores now await transfer to Ohio State University. Once they arrive, the samples will be analyzed through measurements of the oxygen-isotopic ratios for temperature as well as concentrations of dust and various chemicals.
In doing so, the scientists hope to find out whether:
- Climate trends around the Antarctic Peninsula have been similar or not to those on the rest of the continent;
- The climate on the peninsula was warm during the early Holocene, some 8,000 to 6,000 years ago;
- The ice cores contain ice from the last ice age.
So far, only one other ice core has been retrieved from the Antarctic Peninsula by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), which in 2007 drilled to a depth of 363 metres. Both cores have yet to be analyzed; once this has been done researchers hope to find answers to many of their questions.
