To understand more about Antarctica’s potential contribution to future sea-level rise, a small team of drillers, engineers, and researchers will be travelling hundreds of kilometers via traverse and airplane to the southeast margin of the Ross Ice Shelf. They will do so to drill up to 200 m below the seafloor at two different sites to recover a geological record of changing rock types that reflect environmental conditions at the time they formed. The hope is that these records will provide key insights into West Antarctica’s ice extent during times in the past when it was warmer than today.
Antarctic field operations commenced at the Kamb Ice Stream site in 2023/2024 and will continue in 2024/2025, co-led by Tina van de Flierdt and Richard Levy. A third field season is planned at the Crary Ice Rise in 2025/2026, co-led by Molly Patterson and Huw Horgan. This page will contain updates on what is happening operationally on the ice and a high-level view of what is happening in terms of science in between the field seasons.
Antarctic frontier project ‘tantalisingly close’ to vital climate secrets
Our international team has successfully drilled through 580 metres of ice, obtained the longest sediment core ever retrieved from the remote Siple Coast, and gathered crucial information in our mission…
End of the first season at KIS-3
The first SWAIS2C field season at the KIS-3 drill site on the Ross Ice Shelf is over, and our on-ice team is heading home with some cool new data and…
Tuesday 26 December 2023
What is an interstitial water sample and why do we care?
Monday 25 December 2023
Merry KIS-mas from the SWAIS 2C Team! We here at the SWAIS 2C KIS3 camp wish everyone a happy and joyful holiday season!
Sunday 24 December 2023
Today we took a little time to make our camp feel a bit more festive in preparation for Christmas!
Saturday 23 December 2023
Our team are on the largest shelf they can think of, and it's nearly Christmas (for those who celebrate). So of course there needs to be an elf!
Friday 22 December 2023
The larger hole (~35 cm) through the Ross Ice Shelf was completed today!
Thursday 21 December 2023
It’s the small luxuries… Remote field work in Antarctica often involves going weeks without a shower or clean clothes.
Wednesday 20 December 2023 (part 2)
After years of planning and preparing and so much hard work of so many, including three weeks of set up time, trouble shooting and dry runs of hotwater drilling (HWD) and…
Wednesday 20 December 2023
When the wind blows… After a beautiful day on Tuesday with sunny skies and very little windy, today started out grey and windy and it kept getting windier and colder throughout…
Tuesday 19 December 2023
Once the hot water hole is completed through the Ross Ice Shelf, we will have about 12 hours to do science operations in the ocean gap between the ice and…
Sunday 17 December 2023
The Antarctic Intermediate Depth Drill (AIDD) has three coring systems that we can use: a hydraulic piston corer, a push corer, and a rotary corer.
Saturday 16 December 2023
Undertaking a drilling project of this scope in a remote area along the Siple Coast of the Ross Ice Shelf requires a lot of careful preparation and a well-designed camp.
Friday 15 December 2023
An important part of the Antarctic Intermediate Depth Drill (AIDD) system is the sea riser, which helps to support the drill string when drilling from floating ice.
Thursday 14 December 2023
Preparations are gearing up to begin operations soon.
Wednesday 13 December 2023
Where do you go when you need to go on the Ross Ice Shelf?
Tuesday 12 December 2023
Antarctica is the driest place on Earth, so even though it is cold, we have to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated here.
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.
Sunday 10 December 2023
The Antarctic environment poses many challenges to deep field operations, including scientific drilling for the SWAIS 2C project!
Saturday 9 December 2023
One of the most important things at a remote camp in Antarctica is feeding all of the people at the camp!
Tuesday 7 December 2023
All of the camp structures are set up, connected to power, and working well! We also completed the food inventory and stored everything away.