2010 Fall

IDPO is partnering with ANDRILL to hold a town hall meeting at the 2010 Fall AGU Meeting entitled "Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions". Presenters at this meeting will report on recent planning by the IDPO/IDDO, IPICS, ANDRILL, IODP, SCAR-ACE, SHALDRIL, and WAIS initiatives, and will provide time to discuss current opportunities for community involvement in long-term interdisciplinary planning for coring and drilling, including access to resultant boreholes. The workshop is on Wednesday December 15 from 12:30-1:30. Please check the 2010 Fall AGU Meeting web site for more information (http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm10/).

Linda Morris, IDPO-IDDO Education Program Manager, is holding an ice cores and climate workshop called "Climate Expeditions" at the NSTA Regional Conference in Baltimore, MD on November 12-14. Please see the NSTA website for time and location http://www.nsta.org/conferences/2010bal/. If you would like to be involved in a future NSTA conference, please contact Linda Morris at linda.m.morris@dartmouth.edu.

During the 2010-2011 Antarctic field season IDDO will provide drilling support for five projects: (1) the WAIS Divide Ice Core project (Taylor, PI) will continue deep ice coring with the DISC Drill; (2) the Allan Hills Cores project (Kurbatov, PI) will use the Badger-Eclipse Drill to drill several shallow and 100-meter-long ice cores to compare the Eemian climate record of Allan Hills with that of Mt. Moulton, delineate the area's chronostratigraphy, refine meteorite dating for existing collected meteorites, and establish a framework for an "International Climate Park" in the Allan Hills; (3) the WAIS Shallow Cores project (Joughin, PI) will use the Badger-Eclipse Drill to collect shallow ice cores for surface-based ice-core measurements of accumulation and ground-truthing against airborne accumulation radar profiles; (4) the Taylor Glacier Cores project (Severinghaus, PI) will use the Blue Ice Drill to obtain large volume samples of ice from the Taylor Glacier ablation zone for studies of the past atmosphere; and (5) the Lake Vida Access project (Doran, PI) will use a 4-inch hand auger, a Sidewinder hand auger power system, and the Prairie Dog drill to drill an access hole in the ice cover for subsequent geochemical and biological sampling. For more information about each project, visit https://icedrill.org/fieldwork.

The community proposes to begin replicate coring at WAIS Divide during the 2011-2012 Antarctic field season. The conceptual design of the Replicate Coring System was completed in FFY2009 and substantial progress was made in FFY2010 in translating the replicate coring concept into a detailed mechanical design. During the coming year the design of the lower sonde (core and screen barrels and cutting head/cutters) will be completed as will the sensor and control electronics design and software development. Assembly and "bench" testing of the actuators and lower sonde are also scheduled for completion. The entire system will be integrated and tested to the extent possible before its shipment to WAIS Divide for use during the 2011-2012 field season.

The IDPO Long Range Science Plan identifies acquisition of an intermediate drill as a high priority item for the US research community. In FFY2010, IDPO initiated community discussions on the science requirements of the drill, which may be modeled after the Hans Tausen drill (or the NZ modification of that drill). In August, IDDO engineer Tanner Kuhl traveled to NEEM to observe testing of the NZ drill, in order to gain some first-hand knowledge about the drill. IDPO will finish the process of working with the community to come to consensus on the science requirements for an Intermediate Drill in the first quarter of FFY 2011. During FFY 2011, IDDO will create a Project Management Plan, IDPO-IDDO will confer with international partners to gain drawings and collaboration, and IDDO will provide cost estimates and a construction plan for an intermediate drill.