The deepest ice core ever drilled in the Americas - reaching 613 meters - has been pulled from the Müller Ice Cap on Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut by an international research team co-led by a University of Alberta researcher who is hoping to unlock an untold record of Arctic climate and ocean variability from as far back as 20,000 years ago.
"Such a remote site, at the edge of the Arctic Ocean, will offer unprecedented insight into the long-range atmospheric transport of environmental contaminants to the far North - reconstructions of great importance both to science and to local communities," says Alison Criscitiello, U of A director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab and researcher in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
After nearly two months of drilling, often in temperatures that dipped below -30 C, the drill team reached bedrock on May 17, also recovering pebbles and sand from beneath the ancient ice. This deep ice core, along with the recovered geological material, will be transported to the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the U of A for analysis.
