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Ice and a slice of climate history

25 August 2004

        

The first 40m years of Arctic climate history was recovered from beneath the Arctic sea floor yesterday (Monday 23 August).

After four days drilling in hazardous conditions the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's Arctic Coring Expedition retrieved a 272m core before sea ice forced the work to be abandoned.

The deepest ever Arctic borehole, just 233 km from the North Pole, was interrupted late on Monday when very thick, moving ice floes meant that even the world's most powerful icebreaker, the Russian Sovetskiy Soyuz, could no longer ensure it was safe to continue coring.

The Sovetskiy Soyuz is one of two ice breakers brought in to protect the coring ship, the Vidar Viking, which must remain stationary while the cores are being taken.

While the team search for another favourable site scientists are taking the opportunity to look at the retrieved core.

Initial analyses, based on examining microfossils in the core, suggest that the some of the material in these sediments could be 40m years old - the Middle Eocene period.

Chief co-scientist, Professor Jan Backman, from the University of Stockholm said, "This is very exciting. For the first time we are beginning to get information about the history of ice in the central Arctic Ocean.

"This core goes back to a time when there was no ice on the planet - it was too warm. It will tell us a great deal about the climate of the region. It will tell us when it changed from hot to cold and hopefully why."

Jan explained that back in prehistoric times life in the Arctic Ocean was much different to today. In the warmer conditions, and free from ice, life thrived in the far north. The sediments will give some indication of the type and abundance of marine creatures living in these waters at that time.

The team of international scientists are two weeks into the six-week expedition and intend coring to a depth of about 500 metres under the seabed. The previous deepest core extracted from the Arctic was only 16 metres.

On Monday afternoon, a Hercules C-130, from the Swedish Armed Forces, parachuted a package of spare parts and supplies onto the site. Both still pictures and broadcast quality video were collected during this airdrop, which are available to the media. Onshore personnel are available for immediate interview, the scientists and drilling personnel may be available for interview by satellite phone by prior arrangement.

Further information

UK & outside Europe:
Andy Kingdon
British Geological Survey
Tel: 0115 936 3415 (office)
Mob: 07779 616 602

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Northern Europe:
Eva Grönlund
Information Officer
Swedish Polar Research Secretariat
Tel: +46 86739730 (office)
Mob: +46 703449251

Central Europe:
Albert Gerdes
University of Bremen
Tel: +49 421 218-7761 (office)
Mob: +49 172 43 77 986

Notes

1. If you would like to arrange interviews with any of the team please contact the NERC Press Office or Andy Kingdon, British Geological Survey.

2. The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is one of the UK's research councils. It uses a budget of about £300m a year to fund and carry out impartial scientific research in the sciences of the environment. NERC trains the next generation of independent environmental scientists. It is addressing some of the key questions facing mankind such as global warming, renewable energy and sustainable economic development.

3. European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD) represents and funds international ocean drilling at a European level.

4. The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) is an international scientific endeavour that supports basic research into the history of the ocean basins, the nature of climate change, the composition and structure of ocean crust and sediments and life that exists beneath the seafloor. IODP conducts technologically advanced ocean drilling expeditions which investigate regions beneath the seafloor that are inaccessible by any other technology.

5. The British Geological Survey, BGS, is the world's first geological survey, formed in 1835. It is the nation's principal supplier of geoscience expertise and custodian of much of the country's geoscientific information. The BGS provides objective, impartial and up-to-date geoscientific information, advice and services which meet the needs of customers in the commercial, governmental and scientific communities of Great Britain and overseas, thereby contributing to the economic competitiveness of the country, the effectiveness of public services and policy, and quality of life. It is part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which carries out impartial scientific research in the sciences of the environment and is addressing some of the key questions facing mankind such as global warming, renewable energy and sustainable economic development. NERC is the UK member of IODP.

6. More information concerning ACEX can be found at the expedition web site. A logbook with reports and pictures can also be found on this page

Press release: 26/04

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