Scientists have recently established the inaugural global repository for mountain ice cores, safeguarding Earth’s atmospheric history in an Antarctic facility for future research endeavors as global warming continues to thaw glaciers worldwide. Ice cores serve as time capsules, encapsulating the planet’s past atmospheric conditions in a frozen archive. With the rapid melting of glaciers on a global scale, scientists are working fervently to preserve these ice cores for future investigations before they vanish entirely.
The first two samples of Alpine mountain ice cores, sourced from Mont Blanc in France and Grand Combin in Switzerland, are currently housed in a snow cave at the Concordia research station in the Antarctic Plateau, maintaining a steady temperature of approximately -52°C. The Ice Memory Foundation, a collaboration of European research institutions, officially launched the frozen sanctuary after transporting 1.7 tonnes of ice via icebreaker from Trieste, Italy, following a 50-day refrigerated voyage.
Carlo Barbante, Vice Chair of the Ice Memory Foundation and a professor at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, emphasized the significance of safeguarding physical ice samples containing atmospheric gases, aerosols, pollutants, and dust from ice layers. This preservation ensures that future researchers will have access to study past climate conditions utilizing potential future technologies.
The Ice Memory project, initiated in 2015 by a consortium including research institutes from France, Italy, and Switzerland, has already conducted ice core drilling at ten glacier locations worldwide. The plan is to transfer these cores to the cave sanctuary for secure storage over the next few years. The long-term goal is to establish an international agreement to protect and uphold these samples for forthcoming research purposes.
Amidst rising global temperatures, glaciers are rapidly vanishing, leading to the loss of crucial atmospheric data. Since 2000, glaciers have shrunk regionally by between two percent and 39 percent, and globally by approximately five percent, according to the foundation. Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the UN World Meteorological Organization, highlighted the importance of these ice cores as fundamental reference points that enable current and future scientists to comprehend the nature and pace of environmental changes.