Sampling the entire depth from the surface to the bedrock - +/- 105 m - is crucial as this region hosts some of the highest and oldest glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere. These silent giants located nearby the famous Fedchenko, have been storing, layer upon layer of snow, a unique climate archive from one of the world’s most vulnerable and data-scarce regions.
One of the two ice cores will be added to the Ice Memory heritage, enabling future generations of scientists to produce new knowledge after the disappearance of the glaciers.
The Ice Memory Sanctuary will be located in Antarctica, at the French-Italian Concordia station, jointly managed by PNRA and IPEV. The Ice Memory sanctuary sheltering these precious archives is a major milestone for the founders of the Ice Memory Foundation : CNRS, IRD, University Grenoble Alpes, Ca'Foscari University of Venice, CNR and PSI.
This expedition will provide a crucial contribution to the United Nations Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences.