European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica

EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica ) is a European project for the implementation of ice cores in Antarctica.

Target

Within the framework of the EPICA ice cores were drilled two project to reconstruct the climate history of the last year hundreds of thousands.

The main questions are:

  • Were the rapid climate changes during the last ice age, a global phenomenon or confine them to the northern hemisphere?
  • Have there been previous ice ages also as rapid climate change?
  • If the air stability of the Holocene extraordinary?
  • What factors control the transition from glacial to interglacial periods?
  • How to influence the climate system of the two hemispheres?
  • What is the role of greenhouse gases to climate change and what causes and effects do they have?

In order to draw conclusions on the global climate, the data obtained with data from Greenland ice cores are compared.

Holes

The cores were collected from two wells that are located in different areas of the Antarctic. One core was taken at the drill site Dome C (EDC ), which is located in East Antarctica to the Indian Ocean through. The second drill site ( EDML ) is located in Dronning Maud Land to the guidance of the Alfred Wegener Institute Kohnen Station.

The first preparatory work for the project began in 1995 with extensive on-site investigations in Dronning Maud Land. After completion of investigations in 2001 was initiated in January 2002 with the drilling at Kohnen station. The hole ended in 2006 at a depth of 2775 m with a piece of frozen melt water from the base of the Antarctic ice sheet. Can be read off the climate evolution of the last 150,000 years on the ice core funded.

As early as 1996 began drilling at Dome C. In December 2004, the final depth was reached with 3,270 m, about 5 m above the expected base of the ice layer. This ice core harbors the oldest ever sponsored ice and the climate history of the past 900,000 years.

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