Antarctic drilling missions seek to understand climate and ice dynamics
Over 30 researchers from international institutes are working on ice core drilling campaigns in Antarctica to probe the ice sheet’s behaviour, carbon cycling in the Southern Ocean, and the Earth’s climate history.
Investigating ice-shelf stability with the RIFT-TIP project
The RIFT-TIP project on the Brunt Ice Shelf is investigating the processes driving crack propagation, a key factor in iceberg calving and ice-shelf stability. These dynamics directly impact global sea-level rise. The team is focused on the eastern tip of Halloween Crack, located approximately 50 km east of the Halley Research Station, using cutting-edge methods like satellite imaging, ground-penetrating radar, and surface seismometers to study fractures.
In the 2024-25 season, fieldwork will deploy fibre-optic seismic sensing (DAS) to capture high-resolution fracture data and the team will drill ice cores to examine the relationship between stress concentrations, ice crystal structure, and toughness. By analysing historical calving events, such as iceberg A-81 (January 2023) and A-83 (May 2024), researchers aim to refine the KRAKEN phase-field fracture model, improving predictions of future rift dynamics and calving events.
REWIND explores carbon cycling in the Southern Ocean
The REWIND project is focused on the Southern Ocean, a region critical to global carbon cycling. This ocean currently absorbs over 40% of anthropogenic CO₂, yet its role as a carbon sink or source in future climates remains uncertain.
Researchers plan to drill a deep ice core near the BAS Sky-Blu depot on the Antarctic Peninsula, targeting sediments that preserve annual-resolution records of CO₂, marine diatoms, and chemical markers from the Holocene epoch (~11,000 years ago). These records will help reconstruct how westerly winds and sea ice have influenced CO₂ exchange with the atmosphere. Geophysical surveys in 2024-25 will finalize the drilling site, with operations planned for 2025-26 to reach bedrock at depths of 750-800 metres.
Beyond EPICA pushes toward Earth’s oldest ice
In East Antarctica, the Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice project continues at Little Dome C, where scientists aim to extract a 2,750-metre ice core spanning 1.5 million years of climate history. This international effort, led by the Italian National Research Council with BAS as a partner, seeks to unravel the evolution of glacial-interglacial cycles, including a mysterious transition around 1 million years ago.
Drilling at the 3,200-metre-altitude site is a test of endurance, with researchers enduring temperatures as low as -35°C. By analysing ancient climate and atmospheric data preserved in the ice, the project hopes to improve models of future climate change as Earth faces accelerating warming. According to the most recent update from the field, the team have already drilled down almost 500m on the way to reaching the target 2094m mark, and have hope of reaching bedrock this season.
INCISED probes past West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses
The INCISED project is investigating the history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) to understand whether it has collapsed during past interglacial periods and how these events contributed to sea-level rise. The team is using innovative drilling technology to extract rock cores from bedrock beneath the ice sheet, analysing cosmogenic isotopes that indicate when the rock was last exposed to the atmosphere.
This year marks the third in a multi-year effort to confirm if and when WAIS collapses took place, focusing on the area between the Weddell and Amundsen Seas in the Behrendt Mountains. Data will inform climate models about the conditions that led to ice sheet collapse, providing critical insights into how WAIS might respond to ongoing warming.
Together, the RIFT-TIP, REWIND, Beyond EPICA, and INCISED projects highlight the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of Antarctic research. From understanding rift dynamics to reconstructing CO₂ cycles and probing ancient ice and bedrock, these efforts promise to deepen our understanding of Earth’s climate system. The findings will offer essential data for computer modelling future changes, informing global efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Find more about the RIFT-TIP and Beyond EPICA – Oldest ice projects. Listen to head of ice core research, Dr Liz Thomas, talk about reconstructing recent climate change using data from ice cores.