The project involves collecting ice from various parts of the world, and storing it for the future in the coldest place on earth – Antarctica. On Holtedahlfonna, one of the largest and highest glaciers in Svalbard, stands Jean-Charles Gallet. From a base at an altitude of 1,150 metres, he and his colleagues have drilled their way down through the glacier. – The aim is to reconstruct the climate up to 300 years back in time, says Gallet. He is a researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute, and responsible for the logistics. Inside the tent, the researchers scoop up ice from the glacier using a drill. The samples are called ice cores. Large amounts of climate history are stored here. Photo: Jean-Charles Gallet / Norwegian Polar Institute Drilling backwards in time The glacier has “laid on” layer by layer over the years. Snow that settled on the glacier, year after year, has turned into ice. Air bubbles have been compressed between the ice crystals, and therefore the ice today can provide researchers with important information about the climate at that time. The further down you drill, the further you go back in time. Researcher Jean-Charles Gallet Photo: Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud / Norwegian Polar Institute – We want to drill at least 200 years back, because then we will be back to the time before the industry began to develop. When we analyze the ice samples, we can learn more about how much human activity has affected the climate, he says. Two of the ice cores from Holtedahlfonna will now be analyzed. Among other things, the analyzes will provide answers to how old the different layers in the ice are, how much soot is in the glacier and what kind of microorganisms lived in the different eras. The samples from the glacier will also be able to answer how much sea ice there has been around Svalbard over the years. There is a connection between chemical elements in the glacier, in the atmosphere and in the sea ice, the researchers explain. The researchers’ base is at Holtedahlfonna, east of Ny-Ålesund. Photo: Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud / Norwegian Polar Institute Climate history gone But the ice on Svalbard is melting. Measurements show that temperatures in the Arctic have risen four times faster than in the rest of the world in the last 40 years. – It is important to take these samples before it is too late, before it melts too much. When there is water inside the glacier, destroy it for the quality of the information stored there. That is why it is important that we do this here at Holtedahlfonna no. In five to ten years it may be too late. This is still a large glacier, which has not yet been greatly affected by climate change, says Gallet. However, the researchers encountered challenges with running water. 25 meters down, it turned out to be large amounts of water that flowed up through the borehole. Expedition leader Andrea Spolaor Photo: Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud / Norwegian Polar Institute Thus parts of climate history are gone. The whole camp had to be moved because the working conditions were difficult, and in order for them to obtain ice samples of good enough quality. They got that. – This glacier is also warming, and then we know that there are pockets of fresh water inside the glacier. But this was a surprising amount. When the Norwegian Polar Institute had a drilling project here in 2005, they did not come across water, says expedition leader Andrea Spolaor from the Italian Institute for Polar Research (ISP-CNR). Precious samples of the ice are packed onto the sleds, and made ready for transport to Ny-Ålesund, which is the first stop. Photo: Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud / Norwegian Polar Institute Storing ice in minus 50 They are responsible for the project at Holtedahlfonna. Together with six other partners in Italy, Switzerland and France, they have established the Ice Memory Foundation. In the past, they have collected ice samples from France, Bolivia, Russia, Switzerland, Italy and Tanzania. Ice from Holtedahlfonna in place in a freezer container in Ny-Ålesund. Photo: Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud / Norwegian Polar Institute Now ice from Svalbard is also secure for the future. One of the three ice cores from Holtedahfonna will be stored at the Franco-Italian research station Concordia. Here they are in the process of building a storage city inside the ice, where the average temperature is minus 50 degrees. The Ice Memory Sanctuary will be ready for use in the 2024–2025 summer season. The warehouse inside the ice will be 300 square meters in size. – We make a hole in the ice. This is a natural “freezer”, says glaciologist Jacopo Gabrieli, also from the Italian Institute for Polar Research (ISP-CNR). Many glaciers disappear completely. But even if they don’t, they lose part of their memory when there is more running water in the glacier. It happens when the temperature rises. Work is underway to create the Ice Memory Sanctuary at the Franco-Italian research station Concordia in Antarctica. In a 300 square meter “snow hole”, ice cores from glaciers in many countries will be stored. The station is 3,233 meters above sea level. Photo: Rocco Ascion / PNRA – French Polar Institute – A gift to future generations – Breane is like an old book. Now we are able to read the book. But if you throw a glass of water on a very old book, the words will become illegible. At Holtedahlfonna there was a lot of water in the borehole. All the glaciers in the area melt in the summer, and the water erases the information inside the glacier, he says. Gabrieli is troubled by what is happening. – In the Alps it is worse, because there we miss the glaciers themselves. There we don’t just miss words and pages in the book, we miss the book itself. We cannot save the glaciers, because then we have to turn off all the supply of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But what we can try to do is take care of the memory of the glaciers. This way, sometime in the future, researchers can gain access to the “climate archive” that the glaciers represent. – I see this as a gift to future generations. Even if the glaciers disappear, it will still be possible to read the history written in this wonderful book. From a cold store in Ny-Ålesund, the ice cores from Holtedahlfonna will be sent in a freezer container by boat to Italy, before the journey continues to New Zealand and across the Southern Ocean to Antarctica. The last part of the trip goes by tractor over the ice, up to the Ice Memory Sanctuary.
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Sends ice from Svalbard to Antarctica before it melts – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
