NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL ICE CORE LABORATORY - SCIENCE MANAGEMENT OFFICE

Volume 6 Issue 2 • FALL 2011


Image of newsletter cover Getting to the Bottom: NICL Team Processes Deepest Ice from WAIS Divide Project
By Peter Rejcek, Antarctic Sun Editor
Mick Sternberg had literally made the same measurement a thousand times before. But this meter-long ice core was perhaps just a little more special. Read More →



image of evaporative condenser at NICL NICL Update - Evaporative Condenser Unit
By Betty Adrian, Acting Technical Director, NICL
On October 20, 2011 the NICL refrigeration system was officially cooled using the new backup evaporative condenser unit (ECU-2). Read More →



image of CH2M Hill Polar Services logo CH2M HILL Polar Services Wins Arctic Contract
On 28 September 2011, NSF awarded CH2M HILL the Arctic Research Support and Logistics Contract to provide research support and logistics services for NSF-sponsored research in the Arctic. Read More →



image of replicate ice coring system Replicate Ice Coring System
By Joe Souney, Ice Drilling Program Office
Replicate coring is the act of deviating out of an existing borehole to collect additional ice samples from depth intervals of particular interest. Read More →



image of inside of NICL freezer NICL Use and Ice Core Access
The U.S. National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL) houses approximately 17,000 meters of ice cores recovered from Greenland and Antarctica that are available for study. Read More →



image of data table Recently Funded Projects
View the projects related to ice core research that have been funded by the National Science Foundation since the last issue of In-Depth was published. Read More →




 
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MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

2011, what a remarkable year for U.S ice coring. WAIS Divide reached a milestone at 3,331 meters depth, creating the deepest ice core ever drilled by the U.S. and the second deepest ice core ever drilled by any group. In East Antarctica, two projects collected old ice from "blue ice" areas at Allan Hills and Taylor Glacier. And in West Antarctica, a traverse collected ice cores to evaluate recent changes in accumulation.

In the Arctic, shallow ice cores were collected along the Arctic Circle traverse and along the Thule-Summit traverse. And in Alaska, hand coring was done on the McCall Glacier.

NICL had a very busy schedule this past year. Ten weeks were spent during the summer processing the WAIS Divide core; a record of 1400 meters processed in a single CPL. The cores collected during the West Antarctic traverse were also processed at NICL. Probably one of the most important accomplishments at NICL was the replacement of an aging evaporative condenser unit, along with installation of a redundant backup unit, which did not exist before. Let us hope 2012 brings us as much success as did 2011.

-MST