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AboutThe U.S ice core research community is conducting a deep ice coring project in West Antarctica to develop a unique series of interrelated climate, ice dynamics, and biologic records focused on understanding interacations among global earth systems. This project will collect a deep ice core from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) ice flow divide and integrate approximately 20 separate but synergistic projects to analyze the ice and interpret the records.
The most significant characteristic of the WAIS Divide project will be the
development of climate records with an absolute, annual-layer-counted
chronology for the most recent ~40,000 years. Lower temporal resolution records will extend to ~100,000 years before present. These records will enable comparison of environmental conditions between the northern and southern hemispheres, and the study of greenhouse gas concentrations in the paleo-atmosphere, with a greater level of detail than previously possible.
The WAIS Divide ice core will provide the best material that can be recovered
from any location -- with unprecented time resolution -- to investigate the
main science themes of the project:
(1) Climate forcing by greenhouse gases: This project will provide a record of greenhouse gases with unprecedented time resolution during the rapid climate changes that occurred at the end of the last glacial period. The relative timing of changes in greenhouse gases and other environmental parameters will be determined. (2) Role of Antarctica in abrupt climate change: This project will develop high-time-resolution records that can be used to infer the interaction of the southern oceans and atmosphere with each other and with their northern counterparts. This will allow precise investigation of the role of the Antarctic in abrupt climate changes. (3) Relationship among northern, tropical, and southern climates: Small differences in the age of the ice versus the age of the gas in the ice will allow investigation of the relative timing of Northern Hemisphere Dansgaard-Oeschger events and corresponding Southern Hemisphere climate excursions. (4) Stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet: This project will determine how the West Antarctic ice sheet responded to previous climate changes, which will improve predictions of how the West Antarctic ice sheet and sea level will respond to current and future climate changes. (5) Biological signals in deep ice cores: Investigations of biological material in deep ice will yield information about biogeochemical processes that control and are controlled by climate as well as lead to fundamental insights about life on earth. 
Project Proposal (694 KB PDF)
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