5,767 Feet - Scientists Set Record For Single-Season Ice Core Sample On Greenland Expedition

[hatrack]

An international team of researchers, including scientists from the University of Colorado, drilled 5,767 feet down into the Greenland ice sheet this summer, setting a record for the length of ice core recovered in a single season. Even so, scientists will have to drill another 2,600 feet next summer to hit bedrock -- and to find the ice that Jim White, a researcher at CU's Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, has been seeking.

The ice near the bedrock is made up of snow that fell more than 120,000 years ago in the Eemian Period, when the Earth was much warmer than it is today. White says that studying the layers in the ice from that time will help scientists better understand how global warming may change the world in the future.

"Every time we drill a new ice core, we learn a lot more about how Earth's climate functions," he said. "The Eemian Period is the best analog we have for future warming of Earth."

But good, easy-to-interpret Eemian ice is hard to find. Scientists have extracted ice from the Eemian Period before, but because the ice is so near the bedrock, the irregularities of the rock surface compress and fold the ice. "The bottom of the ice record is hard to read," White said. "It's like the pages of the book are jumbled."

EDIT

http://www.dailycamera.com/science-environment/ci_13211186