Project Title

STC: Center for OLDest Ice EXploration (COLDEX): Surface Geophysics Surveys, East Antarctic Plateau

Summary

Event Number:
I-187-M
NSF / OPP Award 2019719

Program Director:
Dr. Kelly Brunt

ASC POC/Implementer:
Allison Barden / Jenny Cunningham / Matthew Kippenhan

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. John A Higgins
higgins.ja@gmail.com
Princeton University
Department of Geosciences
Princeton, New Jersey

Project Web Site:
https://coldex.org/

Location

Supporting Stations: McMurdo Station
Research Locations: Allan Hills

Description

The Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX) will address fundamental questions critical to understanding past and future climate change, including sensitivity to higher levels of greenhouse gases, the role of greenhouse gases in the evolution of ice age cycles, and the behavior of the Antarctic ice sheet in warmer climates. This is a Science and Technology Center proposal that involves multiple United States institutions. Antarctic field campaigns are required to support the central focus of the effort: 1) To identify sites for a continuous 1.5-million-year ice core capable resolving orbital cycles in climate variables; and 2) To create an archive of well-documented old ice samples. I-187-M addresses that second goal.

Field Season Overview

Eleven participants, including three U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) drillers, will work out of a Twin Otter- and Basler-supported camp at the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area. Two Antarctic Support Contract staff will manage the camp. Over seven to eight weeks, the team will drill for ice cores using two drill rigs: The large-bore Blue Ice Drill, and a smaller diameter Eclipse Drill, both provided by IDP. The team will split in two to work each drill at different locations, drilling several cores between 80 and 200 m deep. Recovered ice cores will be packed in ice core boxes, then transported weekly by Twin Otter to McMurdo Station for storage and eventual shipment off continent to the U.S. National Science Foundation Ice Core Facility. The team will recover up to 24,000 lb of ice, filling up to 135 ice core boxes.

Deploying Team Members