Monday 11 December 2023

Today the science team members still at Scott Base got up early and waited for the go/no-go announcement for the flight to the drill site. At around 7:30am, they got the good news that the flight was a go. The team helped get all of the gear into the vehicles for transport to Williams airfield, and then helped to load the gear onto the Basler plane. After fueling, the team enjoyed a very smooth 2+ hour flight to the site, where the co-chiefs were waiting to greet them!

Back row: Anthony Powell, Ollie Twigge, Arne Ulfers, Denise Kulhanek. Front row: Jim Marschalek, Linda Balfoort, Jae Ill Lee
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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.

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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.

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