Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Beyond EPICA (Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice Core: 1,5 Myr of greenhouse gas – climate feedbacks)
Reporting period: 2020-12-01 to 2023-05-31
This project will recover the first ever ice core record reaching beyond 1 million years (1 Myr) ago, extending our knowledge on climate and greenhouse gas forcing to 1.5 Myr, past the change in climate dynamics known as the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, where glacial/interglacial cycles changed from a 40,000 to a 100,000 yr cyclicity. This is a longstanding aim of international ice core science, and is eagerly awaited by the entire palaeoclimate discipline and the wider climate community.
Recovering a 1.5 Myr record of climate and greenhouse gases (GHGs) from Antarctica will resolve long-standing questions about the causes of change in the dynamics of climate over this timeframe, elucidating the linkages between the ocean, atmosphere, ice sheets and carbon cycle. This will provide a completely new, palaeo-based view of planetary boundaries and will tighten the constraints on the response of the Earth system over various timescales to future greenhouse gas emissions. The results obtained will be of paramount importance for the implementation of future Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and to the Climate Action objective (#13) of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations that aims to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Such an oldest ice record is also a key priority for the international ice core community, as articulated by its planning body IPICS (International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences). It is also much anticipated by other palaeoclimate scientists, as was affirmed at the recent 2017 PAGES (PAst Global changES, http://www.pages.unibe.ch/) Open Science meeting.
The overarching scientific goal driving BE-OIC is to obtain the first stratigraphically undisturbed, high-resolution ice-core record of climate and environmental changes over the last 1.5 Myr, and use it to elucidate the role of slow parts of the climate system (carbon cycle, ice sheets) in climate change. By obtaining for the first time ever a continuous ice core extending up to the last 1.5 Myr, we will cover the Mid Pleistocene Transition (MPT, from approximately 1.2 Myr to 0.9 Myr before present).
Recovering a 1.5 Myr record of climate and greenhouse gases (GHGs) from Antarctica will resolve long-standing questions about the causes of change in the dynamics of climate over this timeframe, elucidating the linkages between the ocean, atmosphere, ice sheets and carbon cycle. This will provide a completely new, palaeo-based view of planetary boundaries and will tighten the constraints on the response of the Earth system over various timescales to future greenhouse gas emissions. The results obtained will be of paramount importance for the implementation of future Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and to the Climate Action objective (#13) of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations that aims to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Such an oldest ice record is also a key priority for the international ice core community, as articulated by its planning body IPICS (International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences). It is also much anticipated by other palaeoclimate scientists, as was affirmed at the recent 2017 PAGES (PAst Global changES, http://www.pages.unibe.ch/) Open Science meeting.
The overarching scientific goal driving BE-OIC is to obtain the first stratigraphically undisturbed, high-resolution ice-core record of climate and environmental changes over the last 1.5 Myr, and use it to elucidate the role of slow parts of the climate system (carbon cycle, ice sheets) in climate change. By obtaining for the first time ever a continuous ice core extending up to the last 1.5 Myr, we will cover the Mid Pleistocene Transition (MPT, from approximately 1.2 Myr to 0.9 Myr before present).
Beyond EPICA project concluded its fourth year of activity on 31st May 2023, with three field campaigns successfully completed.
During the first field season (November 2019 – January 2020), ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) and IPEV built the drill camp at the site previously identified by an EU funded geophysical survey project, including more than 4,000 km of airborne and ground-based Radar Echo Sounding (RES) survey and basal temperature assessment based on vertical velocity and temperature measurements.
During the second field season (November 2021 – January 2022), ENEA and IPEV completed the field camp installation and set up the drilling area, the international team started drilling, reaching a depth of 130 m, the temporary storage cave was completed, and a complex drilling system was installed, which was necessary to continue drilling activities during the following seasons.
During the third field season (November 2022 – January 2023), the international team completed the installation of the deep ice drilling system and fine-tuned it to continue the drilling operations started in the previous campaign. Drilling activities reached a depth of 808.47 metres. At this depth the ice preserves information about the climate and the atmosphere of the last 49,300 years.
This year, the first 217 metres from the Beyond EPICA ice core were also processed at the “Cold Lab” at Concordia Station, making observations on the cores and measuring its conductivity parameters, as well as performing the first cuts. A part of these ice cores is being transferred to Europe for analysis in European laboratories.
Since the beginning of the Beyond EPICA project, Scientific Consortia, have been working on ice core science. These are represented by groups of researchers, who work together to carry out analyses and to progress in the study of the ice core analysis. Fourteen consortia, including overall 200 researchers, have so far been identified and formed. The list is reported at the link https://www.beyondepica.eu/en/about/science-consortia-sc/. These groups are platforms to exchange ideas, share expertise, research tools, ice samples, data and facilities, and to define key science goals for the future.
Since the start of the project 32 Deliverables have been submitted and 3 Milestones reached. 17 formal project meetings, of which 6 Steering Committee and Liaison and Advisory Group Meetings (2 in presence and 4 online) and 8 Executive Committee Meetings (2 in presence and 6 online) have been held, including 2 Science Consortia in presence-Meetings. In addition, more then 150 internal meetings of the Management Support Team have been also regularly held.
During the first field season (November 2019 – January 2020), ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) and IPEV built the drill camp at the site previously identified by an EU funded geophysical survey project, including more than 4,000 km of airborne and ground-based Radar Echo Sounding (RES) survey and basal temperature assessment based on vertical velocity and temperature measurements.
During the second field season (November 2021 – January 2022), ENEA and IPEV completed the field camp installation and set up the drilling area, the international team started drilling, reaching a depth of 130 m, the temporary storage cave was completed, and a complex drilling system was installed, which was necessary to continue drilling activities during the following seasons.
During the third field season (November 2022 – January 2023), the international team completed the installation of the deep ice drilling system and fine-tuned it to continue the drilling operations started in the previous campaign. Drilling activities reached a depth of 808.47 metres. At this depth the ice preserves information about the climate and the atmosphere of the last 49,300 years.
This year, the first 217 metres from the Beyond EPICA ice core were also processed at the “Cold Lab” at Concordia Station, making observations on the cores and measuring its conductivity parameters, as well as performing the first cuts. A part of these ice cores is being transferred to Europe for analysis in European laboratories.
Since the beginning of the Beyond EPICA project, Scientific Consortia, have been working on ice core science. These are represented by groups of researchers, who work together to carry out analyses and to progress in the study of the ice core analysis. Fourteen consortia, including overall 200 researchers, have so far been identified and formed. The list is reported at the link https://www.beyondepica.eu/en/about/science-consortia-sc/. These groups are platforms to exchange ideas, share expertise, research tools, ice samples, data and facilities, and to define key science goals for the future.
Since the start of the project 32 Deliverables have been submitted and 3 Milestones reached. 17 formal project meetings, of which 6 Steering Committee and Liaison and Advisory Group Meetings (2 in presence and 4 online) and 8 Executive Committee Meetings (2 in presence and 6 online) have been held, including 2 Science Consortia in presence-Meetings. In addition, more then 150 internal meetings of the Management Support Team have been also regularly held.
The Beyond EPICA project has three more field seasons ahead to conclude drilling activities and to close the Little Dome C camp.
The specific objectives and actions for the coming seasons, until the end of the project, are:
•Continuing deep drilling to a depth of about 2000 m. Transport by traverse to Little Dome C of 20 m3 of fuel, and 20 m3 of drilling fluid. Transport by Basler/l’Astrolabe /cargo of the ice samples to the EU (Field season 2023-24).
•Drilling to the bedrock - replicate cores (the last 2/300 m, older than 700 kyr) and retrograding the traverse module and camp at Concordia. Transport by traverse to Little Dome C 20 m3 of fuel. Transport by Basler/l’Astrolabe/cargo of the ice samples to the EU (Field season 2024-25).
Borehole logging. Retrograde the traverse module and camp at Concordia. Clean the camp (Field season 2025-26). Once drilling activities will be completed the borehole will be monitored, from an environmental assessment point of view, as it will remain of scientific relevance. New methods will allow the fluid to be recovered if scientific activity will not continue.
The expected impacts of Beyond EPICA project are:
•support the major international scientific assessments such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by improving estimates of Earth System sensitivity to GHG changes and of climate and carbon cycle feedbacks;
•increase confidence in climate change projections by contributing to design solutions to mitigate future climate changes;
•providing an evidence base to support and validate climate model thus providing added value to decision and policy makers;
•sustain European leadership in climate science by increasing the expertise of the joint European science area.
The specific objectives and actions for the coming seasons, until the end of the project, are:
•Continuing deep drilling to a depth of about 2000 m. Transport by traverse to Little Dome C of 20 m3 of fuel, and 20 m3 of drilling fluid. Transport by Basler/l’Astrolabe /cargo of the ice samples to the EU (Field season 2023-24).
•Drilling to the bedrock - replicate cores (the last 2/300 m, older than 700 kyr) and retrograding the traverse module and camp at Concordia. Transport by traverse to Little Dome C 20 m3 of fuel. Transport by Basler/l’Astrolabe/cargo of the ice samples to the EU (Field season 2024-25).
Borehole logging. Retrograde the traverse module and camp at Concordia. Clean the camp (Field season 2025-26). Once drilling activities will be completed the borehole will be monitored, from an environmental assessment point of view, as it will remain of scientific relevance. New methods will allow the fluid to be recovered if scientific activity will not continue.
The expected impacts of Beyond EPICA project are:
•support the major international scientific assessments such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by improving estimates of Earth System sensitivity to GHG changes and of climate and carbon cycle feedbacks;
•increase confidence in climate change projections by contributing to design solutions to mitigate future climate changes;
•providing an evidence base to support and validate climate model thus providing added value to decision and policy makers;
•sustain European leadership in climate science by increasing the expertise of the joint European science area.