G - I
type: Concept

IPICS-IPY
type: Concept
in scheme: projects
definition: Ice cores have contributed substantially to understanding climate change. They provide convincing evidence of large, abrupt climate changes, demonstrate links between greenhouse gases and climate, and show how humans have altered the atmosphere. However, there is a great deal more to learn. In 2004, representatives of all major ice coring nations agreed on a common agenda for the next decade. This agenda looks beyond established projects and includes coring over all available timescales, with highest feasible resolution. IPY provides an opportunity to launch this initiative. Other ice coring efforts, including some that are part of International Partnerships in Ice Coring (IPICS), are the subject of separate IPY submissions, as indicated below. IPICS-related events planned for IPY include: 1. Searching for the longest possible ice core record. The oldest Antarctic ice core so far extends 800-900 kyr. Before this, Earth's climate had a 40 kyr glacial-interglacial periodicity. IPICS aims to find a 1.2 Myr record and help discover why the period changed. During IPY, initial survey work will occur as part of the TASTE-IDEA ice divides traverses, by French/Italian/Russian teams in the Dome C-North Vostok-Dome B region, by a Chinese team near Dome A, and by US-led radar and remote sensing teams. IPICS will collate results to recommend drilling sites. 2. Initiation of coring to recover the last interglacial and older ice from Greenland. The last interglacial was probably warmer than the present and is an analogue for an anthropogenically-warmed world. We need to learn about the behaviour of climate and the Greenland ice sheet during times of warmer climate. The oldest reliable core only partly penetrates the last interglacial. Drilling in northwest Greenland would start, and possibly finish, in IPY. Danish, US, French, Japanese, UK, Swiss, Swedish, and German groups have expressed interest, and others are expected to join. Note that while this effort is part of the IPICS a…