Scientists from Italy, France, and Norway have established a camp in the Norwegian island of Svalbard to collect samples of ancient ice for study before the frozen layers melt due to climate change.
Project ‘Ice Memory’
- Scientists will drill a series of tubes up to 125 metres (137 yards) below the surface, where frozen geochemical traces going back three centuries will be found.
- The experts will extract ice for three weeks in temperatures as low as -25 degrees Celsius (-13 degrees Fahrenheit).
- The process is overseen by the Ice Memory Foundation.
- Scientists will gain important information about past environmental conditions from the ice cores.
Storage and analysis
- One set of ice tubes will be used immediately for analysis, while a second set will be sent to Antarctica for preservation in a “ice memory sanctuary” beneath the snow.
- The samples will be kept for future generations of experts to study.
Reason for drilling
- The Arctic is warming two to four times faster than the rest of the world, and melting ice is altering the geochemical records kept in ancient ice beneath.
- As a result, scientists are racing against the clock to preserve vital ice records before they vanish permanently from the planet’s surface.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/arctic-scientists-race-to-preserve-ice-memory/article66695243.ece