SWAIS2C Season 3 - 177 metres of sediment core!

Season 3 of the ICDP SWAIS2C drilling project in Antarctica:  While the first core was on deck just before the end of 2025, the team has reached a huge milestone just after New Year– they now retrieved more than 100 metres of sediment core and is over halfway towards the target of 200 metres. Despite having to relevel the drill rig, the drillers are progressing fast: by the end of the shift on January 4th, the drilled depth below the ice was 177 m.

During this season the ICDP SWAIS2C drilling project has an ‘on-ice’ team of 29 scientists, drillers, engineers and Antarctic field specialists embarking on the project’s attempt to drill for a 200 m sediment core from the bedrock deep beneath 500 m of ice at the Crary Ice Rise on the Ross Ice Shelf. The aim is to understand the response to climate warming in the past, and the meaning for Earth’s future 🌏 Response of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) to projected warming remains a significant uncertainty in sea level rise projections. SWAIS2C focus on understanding past and current drivers, mechanisms and feedbacks that influence retreat of ice sheets, to reduce uncertainty in numerical model projections of future changes.

Daily news  ℹ️ https://www.icdp-online.org/projects/by-continent/polar-regions/antarctica/swais-2c-antarctica/swais2c-daily-news

ICDP project ℹ️ https://www.icdp-online.org/projects/by-continent/polar-regions/antarctica/swais-2c-antarctica/

SWAIS2C  ℹ️ https://www.swais2c.aq/