Core on deck!

We have successfully retrieved sediment core from beneath 523 m of ice at Crary Ice Rise, rotary coring with our custom-designed Antarctic Intermediate Depth Drill.

Our first core measured in at 2.27 m, and by the end of the first 12-hour shift we had more than 10 m of core.

After the challenges of the first two seasons, we are thrilled to be underway with obtaining the elusive geological record that we’re seeking from deep beneath the ice. 

View all articles
Media clippings
Deepest-ever rock core extracted from under Antarctic ice sheet

Deepest-ever rock core extracted from under Antarctic ice sheet

18 February 2026

Analyses will help to reveal how far the West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated in the past — and what it might do in the future.

view
Media clippings
Scientists Drilled Into Antarctic Ice Until They Met Bedrock, Then Got A 228-Meter Sample Of Sediment

Scientists Drilled Into Antarctic Ice Until They Met Bedrock, Then Got A 228-Meter Sample Of Sediment

18 February 2026

Scientists have just got their hands on a 228-metre (748-foot) core sample from the muddy bedrock beneath West Antarctica’s chunky ice sheets. Inside the record-breaking sample, they discovered fossils of marine organisms that date from a time when this area was an open, ice-free ocean.

view