EastGRIP

EASTGRIP CAMP, GREENLAND - JULY 31: An ice core from a depth of 2215 meters with a prominent NAAZ II (North Atlantic Ash Zone) layer of volcanic ash, deposited ca. 55,400 years ago during a volcanic eruption in Thórsmörk, southern Iceland, is examined at East Greenland Ice-Core Project (EastGRIP) camp on July 31, 2022. This layer is one of only a handful of visible ash layers in the 120,000 years covered by the ice cores. Since it is widespread in the North Atlantic region, it is...
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EASTGRIP CAMP, GREENLAND - JULY 31: An ice core from a depth of 2215 meters with a prominent NAAZ II (North Atlantic Ash Zone) layer of volcanic ash, deposited ca. 55,400 years ago during a volcanic eruption in Thórsmörk, southern Iceland, is examined at East Greenland Ice-Core Project (EastGRIP) camp on July 31, 2022. This layer is one of only a handful of visible ash layers in the 120,000 years covered by the ice cores. Since it is widespread in the North Atlantic region, it is a critical time marker linking ice cores with marine and lake sediment records beyond C-14 dating. EastGRIP is an international science station on the Greenland ice sheet, the second-largest ice body in the world after the Antarctic ice cap. The team at EastGRIP, led by the University of Copenhagen in coordination with the Danish Centre for Ice and Climate and other partners, aims to drill through 2650 meters of ice dating back 80,000 years, to glean new knowledge of ice-sheet dynamics and how fast-flowing ice streams will contribute to sea-level rise. The resulting ice core will also create a new record of past climatic and atmospheric conditions from the northeastern part of the Greenland Ice Sheet, informing our understanding of how it may respond to a changing climate. This summer marked the first season of fieldwork since 2019, after the Covid-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 field seasons. After two months of preparation this spring, the drilling operation started on July 7th and ended on August 6th, yielding a new 300 meters of core at a maximum depth of 2418.23 meters. That puts them under 250 meters from their target depth, which the team aims to achieve next year. (Photo by Lukasz Larsson Warzecha/Getty Images)
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