'Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice Core: 1,5 Myr of greenhouse gas - climate feedbacks'. EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Action (GA n°815384) June 2019 - May 2026
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The Beyond EPICA Steering Committee and LAG Meeting has just started in the beautiful framework of The Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts at Palazzo Loredan, Venice, Italy – at Venice, Veneto
Last day(s) at LDC.
Sergio left for Concordia with the Pistenbully, the blue container and the Skidoo, while the rest of the team closed the workshop container.
This season marks the end of all field operations for Beyond EPICA, which formally concludes on May 31st (continue)
The project’s main goal, reaching bedrock and recovering the oldest stratigraphically layered ice, was achieved last season with a climate record probably extending back over 1.5 ma.
This year we tried to drill into the bedrock and replicate the oldest ice in a deviated borehole.
Little Dome C days are winding down. Concordia team arrived to help shut the shower module, later sent off with the +4 °C container and generators
Farewells, fresh bread, final clean-up, packing and relocations filled a windy day. Workshop closing tomorrow📷Seth,Ederer©PNRA/IPEV
Barbara clocked 2h01m40s for 500 pieces—great, but Iben stays on top!
Radar data limited to 1.7 km.
Drill tent nearly ready.
Seismic team dug out 43 sensors again.
Good weather for ski tours before cake time!📷I. Koldtofy, K. Ederer, G. Lawer©PNRA/IPEV
Camp nearing closure: filtering done and the borehole filled to 73 m with Estisol 165 and recycled liquid, with topping‑up today. Ice core boxes now at Concordia. Radar survey advanced 10 km before storage filled; limited time ends work at Little Dome C📸B.Seth,G.LawerPNRA/IPEV
Last drilling for Beyond EPICA!
We recovered 4.89 m more ice, reaching 28.23 m from the deviated borehole. Four boxes of replicate ice plus one of scraping samples have been filled. Pic shows the final replicate core.
Yesterday was also Lemmi’s birthday!📷I. Koldtoft©PNRA/IPEV
Drilling into the 2042 m deviation went smoothly, with 9 runs yielding 19.82 m of beautiful core. The half‑moon shape finally became a full core after 19 m of continuous drilling. While filtering the borehole, the team also joined the Ice Memory inauguration.📸B.Seth©PNRA/IPEV
In case you missed it, you can now watch the Inauguration of the Ice Memory Sanctuary here!
youtube.com/watch?v=8qh4SNce…
We proved the borehole deviation works: the deviation‑tool head cut into the ice, yelding a guiding core that enabled the switch to the 2.5 m drill with dead weight. We penetrated 1.3 m and recovered 2 additional half‑moon cores: a Beyond EPIC(A) moment📸Seth,Jolivet©PNRA/IPEV
Pizza night on Saturday: Iben’s white potato pizza and the infamous pineapple‑ham combo! On Sunday, Iben and Henrique tested the radar toward the MYIC site; cold temps caused issues, but it worked later near camp. Ice core boxes flew to MZS for storage📸B.Seth,H.Traeger©PNRA/IPEV
Gianluca’s chestnut bread filled the tent with amazing fragrance before a tough morning of repairs: a broken heater and a piston pin kept the team busy. At 2042 m we briefly found our ledge but couldn’t proceed. Pascal and Greg arrived, fixing the SDMO1!
📸P. Possenti©PNRA/IPEV
The team loaded all Zarges boxes onto the Sfusi sledge (📸B.Seth©PNRA/IPEV). Only the sediment‑ice box was added before Gianluca left at 7:45 AM for Concordia (📸I.Koldtoft©PNRA/IPEV). More borehole filter runs followed and the tent turned into a bakery (📸M.Lahuec©PNRA/IPEV)
The team ran repeated filter cycles to clean the borehole, getting chips and slush; Concordia guests deployed 43 seismic sensors and Iben launched a speed‑puzzling contest (1h40s for 500 pcs). A halo was visible even from inside the drilling tent!📸Seth,Traeger,Possenti©PNRA/IPEV
Milling continued all morning, filling the chamber with chips. The team began filtering the borehole. Next step: using the deviation tool with current setup and dead weight. Australian NP and Concordia crews joined us for lunch and moved our containers to Dome C📸B.Seth©PNRA/IPEV
The team was busy building down the science trench.
In the drilling tent, they milled the borehole wall and later tweaked the drill head after emptying the chip chamber (📸I.Koldtoft©PNRA/IPEV). A spinning antitorque caused shutdowns, so they tightened it for better grip.
“Coretters” drill head bit aggressively into the borehole wall and snapped the safety pin. Gunther modified it, milling continued with normal head. Radar up📷Lahuec, Traeger, Koldtofti©PNRA/IPEV. Pizza with Concordia visitors. Yesterday the team completed a run with modified head
