2007 # 01 Tigoriannguaruk! Tag suluk med hjem! Your personal copy!

Ice core researchers spent May and
June 2006 on Flade Isblink, which is a
small ice cap not far from Station
Nord. Here, despite adversity in the
form of many days of bad snowstorms,
the drill team succeeded in
drilling 430 metres of ice cores.
The drilling was useful practice for
preparing the team for major efforts
in the future:
– We used the drilling on Flade Isblink
to test a new, environmentally friendly
and biodegradable drilling fluid that
can replace the fluid we previously
used when we drilled on top of the
inland ice, says Jørgen Peder Steffensen
from the Ice and Climate Group.
The new fluid is based on cocoanut oil
and the experience we gained from
this summer’s drilling is so positive that
not only we, but also other international
drilling projects will doubtlessly
used the new fluid.
The scientific aim was to investigate
the ice cap’s climate history which can
Air Greenland inflight magazine 67
■ Nunat tamalaat akornanni Issittup ukiuani nunat tamalaat akornanni suliniuterujussuit ingerlanneqartussat
ilaat tassaavoq Sermersuup qaavani sermimik qaqitsiviusumik sermersuarmi qillerineq. Qillerinermik
suliaqartunit tamatumuuna sermitoqarujussuarmik ukiut 130.000-it sinnerlugit pisoqaassusilimmik
taamalu sermersuaqarfiit akorninik matussusiisussamik nassaarnissaq neriuutigineqarpoq.
■ Et af de store internationale projekter under Det Internationale Polarår er det dansk ledede iskerneprojekt
på Indlandsisens top. Iskernefolket håber denne gang at finde meget gammel is, som går mere end
130.000 år tilbage i tiden og dermed dækker hele den forrige mellemistid.
■ One of the big international projects under the International Polar Year is the Danish led ice core project
on top of the inland ice. This time, the ice core team hope to find more than 130,000 year old ice
which would cover the whole of the previous interglacial period.
be read in the ice cores that are drilled
out. Jørgen Peder Steffensen, who is
responsible for the logistics of the drilling,
says that the cap is probably not
very old. He wouldn’t be surprised if
next month’s analyses show that the
icecap melted completely during the
warm Middle Ages only 1000 years
ago.
The search for old ice
Greenland must expect a minor invasion
during the International Polar Year
2007-08. No less than 138 of the 406
international research consortia are
related to research in Greenland. 300
Danish, Greenlandic and Faroese researchers
have a share in 80 of these
consortia and lead 24 of the international
consortia. In all it is estimated
that the IPY’s activities will draw 5-
6000 scientists, logisticians, technicians,
aircraft personnel and others
to Greenland.
One of the big international, Danishled
projects in Greenland is the new
ice core drilling in the Northern part of
the inland ice. Earlier ice core drilling
in 1989-92 and 1999-2003 produced
sensational and ground-breaking information
about the climate up to more
than 100,000 years ago. But one core
is still missing – the core that covers
the entire previous interglacial period
– Eem – from 130,000 to 110,000
years ago. The NordGrip ice core from
1999-2003 covers the transition from
the interglacial period to the last iceage
115,000 years ago, but it only
contains half of the Eem period,
because the bottom had melted away.
An ice core that covers the entire Eem
period is therefore at the top of the ice
core drillers’ wish list.
– We believe that this period can provide
important information about our
own interglacial period and present
climate, and about the link between
north and south which we suspect
plays an active underlying role in
connection with climate shifts between
ice age and interglacial periods,
says Jørgen Peder Steffensen.
Now we want to make another
attempt, this time in a northern location
about 300 kilometres north of
the NordGrip drill site and a couple of
hundred kilometres east of Thule.
Radio echo data collected by aircraft
shows that there is a good chance that
2500-2600 metres down, the ice core
drill will find ice that is more 130,000
years old, which means it covers all of
the previous interglacial period.
– Our project proposal has received
wide international backing in the ice
core community. At meetings in IPICS,
which is the international forum for
the ice core community, is has been
decided that this is to be high priority
amongst the international drilling projects
in the northern hemisphere
during the IPY.
Interest has been so great, that not
only will there be participants from
leading, polar research nations like
USA, Canada, Germany and Sweden