Discover IDP
ECR Perspectives on Ice Core Science
Articles for undergraduate students and ice core adjacent researchers
Long Range Science Plan
Integrated planning for U.S. ice coring and drilling
Basal Access and Sampling Feasibility Study
New white paper from the U.S. Ice Drilling Program
Ice Drilling and Borehole Logging Equipment
Explore the equipment available to the U.S. science community
Requesting Field Support
Learn how to request field support from IDP
Ice Bits Newsletter
The quarterly newsletter of IDP activities
icedrill-education.org
Home of IDP's education & outreach program
News
Join Our Email List
Subscribe to the U.S. Ice Drilling Program email list to receive the latest news and announcements revelant to the ice drilling and ice coring science and technology communities.
Current Fieldwork
2023 Arctic
- Collaborative Research: AON Network for Observing Transformation of the Greenland Ice Sheet Firn Layer
- Collaborative Research: GreenDrill: The response of the northern Greenland Ice Sheet to Arctic Warmth - Direct constraints from sub-ice bedrock
- GreenDrill Geophysical Site Selection Activities
- Collaborative Research: Investigating the Rate of Potential Biological in Situ Gas Production of CO and CH4 in Arctic Ice
- Collaborative Research: P2C2-- Ice Core and Firn Aquifer Studies at Combatant Col, British Columbia, Canada
- NSFGEO-NERC: Collaborative Research: Chemistry and Biology under Low Flow Hydrologic Conditions Beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet Revealed through Naturally Emerging Subglacial Water
- Collaborative Research: NSFGEO-NERC: Recent changes in Arctic biogenic sulfur aerosol from a central Greenland ice core
- Significance of Ice-loss to Landscapes in the Arctic: SILA (Inuit concept of the physical world and weather)
Upcoming Fieldwork
2023-2024 Antarctic
- NSF-NERC: Ground Geophysics Survey of Thwaites Glacier
- Center for OLDest Ice Exploration (COLDEX)
- Collaborative Research: Constraining West Antarctic Ice Sheet Elevation during the last Interglacial
- Collaborative Research: EAGER: Dating Glacier Retreat and Readvance near Mount Waesche, West Antarctica
- Sea-ice Snow Microbial Communities? Impact on Antarctic Bromocarbon Budgets and Processes
Program Information
The U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) is a NSF-funded facility. IDP conducts integrated planning for the ice drilling science and technology communities, and provides drilling technology and operational support that enables the community to advance the frontiers of climate and environmental science.
Requesting Field Support
If you are preparing a NSF proposal that includes any kind of support from IDP, you must include a Letter of Support from IDP in the proposal. Researchers are asked to provide IDP with a detailed support request three weeks prior to the date the Letter of Support is required. Early submissions are strongly encouraged.
Long Range Plans
Science Requirements
White Papers
- Basal Access and Sampling Feasibility Study (2022)
- Workshop Report - U.S. Scientific Traverses on the Greenland Ice Sheet: Community Planning Workshop (2021)
- IDP Ice Core Working Group: Community Recommendations for the NSF Ice Core Facility (2020)
- IDP Ice Core Working Group (IDP-ICWG): Alpine Glaciers and Ice Caps (2020)
- IDP Ice Core Working Group (IDP-ICWG): Paleoclimate Ice Core Research Priorities in Antarctica (2020)
Meeting Presentations, Reports, etc.
- Presentations: 2023 Ice Core Working Group Meeting (May 11, 2023) (2023)
- Presentations: 2023 Science Advisory Board Meeting (May 1, 2023) (2023)
- Technical Assistance Board 2023 Meeting: Agenda and Minutes (2023)
- Presentations: 2022 Science Advisory Board Meeting (March 3-4, 2022) (2022)
- Presentations: 2022 Ice Core Working Group Meeting (February 17, 2022) (2022)
- Presentations: AGU Town Hall TH010 - Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions (2021)
Ice Drilling Technology Publications
- The TRIPLE Melting Probe - an Electro-Thermal Drill with a Forefield Reconnaissance System to Access Subglacial Lakes and Oceans (2021) OCEANS 2021: San Diego – Porto
- Progress of the RADIX (Rapid Access Drilling and Ice eXtraction) fast-access drilling system (2023) The Cryosphere
- Heat transfer modelling of thermal anti-freezing method for ice hot-point drilling (2022) Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
- Optimization of Hot-Water Drilling in Ice with Near-Bottom Circulation (2022) Water
- Theoretical and experimental research to remove hot water out of drill hose of deep hot-water drilling system (2022) Polar Science
Science Advisory Board
Ice Core Working Group
Subglacial Access Working Group
IDP Education and Outreach
Virtual Field Labs
Virtual Field Labs are unique interactive Education and Outreach products designed for students from late middle school to college. Virtual Field Labs are designed for students to watch with a teacher present (virtually or in-person) or independently on their own computers. Each Virtual Field Lab takes students along with a climate scientist as they collect and analyze data to answer a different climate question.
More InformationSchool of Ice
The School of Ice provides professional development workshops for faculty from Minority Serving Institutions, training participants to understand paleoclimate evidence derived from ice cores. It also provides participants with the opportunities and training to acquire the skills necessary to bring this exciting inquiry into new and existing Earth and environmental science classes on their campuses.
More InformationTeaching Resources
The Education and Outreach website hosts free teaching resources on topics of ice core science, ocean circulation, polar science, process of science, teaching tools, and virtual field labs that offer new participatory experiences for online learning. The website provides resources for classrooms or informal science program efforts with data that is useful to decision-makers of all backgrounds.
More Information