1) Popular Summary of Scientific Work

This project is based on new portable drilling techniques which allow shallow coring of permafrosted glacial sediments in remote areas. The primary aim of this project is to recover a climate record from Antarctic ground ice and soils, which potentially hold detailed records that date back to 15 million years ago. The cored material will not only be used to determine climate and climate history from geo and biochemistry but will also provide stratigraphic information for ground penetrating radar studies and outcrop maps of glacial sediments.

One of the main scientific problems to be addressed by this project is the origin of ground ice at high elevations (<1000m) throughout the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The origin is unclear because there is no obvious contemporary source of water. Three possible sources have been proposed: 1) The water came only with the original deposition of the sediments, 2) additional water was introduced after deposition during an undocumented warm period in Antarctic history, or 3) additional water has condensed from atmospheric vapour, which has diffused into the ground over millions of years. Preliminary work suggests that mechanism three is applicable and that this may be similar to the occurrence of water on Mars.