Scientists race against time to preserve Arctic ice samples for future study

The team aims to collect two 125m ice cores to better understand the 'Arctic amplification' phenomenon

A polar bear lies on a melting ice floe in the British Channel of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, in the Russian Arctic. AFP

A team of international scientists has reached the Holtedahlfonna icefield in the Arctic to drill ice cores, as part of the Sentinel project expedition.

They are studying the “Arctic amplification” phenomenon and aim to collect two ice cores, each 125m long, to reconstruct climate signals for the past 300 years.

One ice core will be preserved for centuries to come in the dedicated Ice Memory Sanctuary in Antarctica.

The Ice Memory Foundation, the organisation behind the initiative, aims to collect and preserve ice cores from around the world to enable future scientists to study the past climate of our planet and anticipate future changes, long after the glacier has disappeared due to global warming.

The Svalbard Archipelago in the Arctic is at risk from climate change, and its glaciers are disappearing at four times the global average.

The recent acceleration of temperature increases has already affected the quality of climate and environmental signals found in previous ice cores extracted on the same site.

To prevent further loss, the Ice Memory Foundation has joined forces with the scientists to collect an ice core to preserve for future generations of scientists.

The Arctic amplification phenomenon is responsible for warming the Arctic region much faster than the rest of the planet, and the scientists’ research objective is to increase scientific understanding of the roles of sea ice, bromine and mercury.

They will work for 20 days at an altitude of 1,100 metres and aim to reach a depth of about 125 metres into the glacier.

Jerome Chapellaz, President of the Ice Memory Foundation, said that ice scientists are seeing their primary material disappear forever from the surface of the planet. He said: “It is our responsibility as glaciologists of this generation to make sure a bit of it is preserved."

Researchers carrying a part of an ice core in Chamonix, eastern France, following its extraction as part of the Protecting Ice Memory project. AFP

In addition to the immediate analysis of one set of ice cores, another set will be sent to Antarctica’s Ice Memory Sanctuary, which will allow natural storage of the ice cores at minus 50°C and guarantee long-term preservation.

Carlo Barbante, the paleoclimatologist, explains that glaciers at high latitudes, such as those in the Arctic, have begun to melt at a high rate.

“We want to recover and preserve, for future generations of scientists, these extraordinary archives of our Planet's climate before all the information they contain is completely lost”, Mr Barbante said.

The Ice Memory Foundation was founded by seven scientific institutions: University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development — IRD, French Polar Institute in France, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, CNR in Italy, Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland and is sheltered by the University Grenoble Alpes Foundation.