We’ve completed drilling at Crary Ice Rise with a whopping 228 m of sediment core, exceeding our target of 200 m!
This is an unprecedented record of the history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet stretching back millions of years, which will help the world forecast and prepare for future sea-level rise. Initial observations indicate the core includes periods where there has been environmental change in this area during past times of warming.
Obtaining the core was a huge team effort, both on and off the ice. First, the traverse team towed our drill rig and other supplies 1100 km across the Ross Ice Shelf, and set up our deep-field camp. The rest of our team then flew in to get drilling and science operations underway.
After assembling the drill tent and equipment, the hot water drill team made water from snow, and used this hot water to melt a hole through 523 m of ice.
The Antarctic Intermediate Depth Drill team lowered more than 1300 m of riser and drill string pipe down the hole, then rotary cored, pulling up core in sections up to 3 m long.
Our science team were on hand to describe, image, sample, and carefully process and package the precious core, for further analysis back in New Zealand and labs around the world.
When coring was complete, downhole logging was carried out to provide further information about the sediment below the ice.
The big pack-down is now underway, while our geophysics team are still working around the ice rise.
We're looking forward to continuing to explore the climate information contained within our core!
