SWAIS2C Season 3 finalized at 228m!

CONGRATULATIONS!

The SWAIS2C team wrapped up drilling at Crary Ice Rise with a whopping 228m of sediment core, exceeding the target of 200m!

🥇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 1100km 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 523m of ice. The Antarctic Intermediate Depth Drill team lowered more than 1300m of riser and drill string pipe down the hole, then rotary cored, pulling up core in sections up to 3m 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. 

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

SWAIS2C  ℹ️ https://www.swais2c.aq/