Ice Core Working Group

Save the date!! Sunday, December 6, 2026, in San Francisco, CA, will be the location of the IDP Ice Core Working Group (IDP-ICWG) community meeting. This single-day meeting is on Sunday at the start of the AGU meeting week. The goal of the meeting is to reach U.S. ice core community consensus on the compelling scientific need and approximate location of the next U.S. deep ice coring site to be drilled after the Fifth International Polar Year (IPY-5).  

The IDP-ICWG priority deep drilling at Hercules Dome has been in the works for years and is now approaching; drilling will hopefully be finished just before or during the IPY-5. What comes after Hercules Dome for the next U.S. community ice core? Deep or intermediate depth drilling requires planning and coordination across IDP, logistics, and NSF, and it takes many years to launch. It starts with U.S. ice core community consensus. Please plan to join us in San Francisco on Sunday, December 6! More information will become available in several months.

A virtual meeting of the Ice Core Working Group (ICWG) was held on April 8, 2025, to discuss updates to the Long Range Science Plan (LRSP) and other ICWG business. Discussions included updates from IDP and the NSF Ice Core Facility (NSF-ICF), ICWG community planning, updates to the LRSP, ice drilling technology development priorities for the LRSP, and member rotations. The agenda and presentations from the meeting are available on the IDP website.

The members of the ICWG are:

• Becky Alexander, Chair (University of Washington)
• Christo Buizert (Oregon State University)
• T.J. Fudge (University of Washington)
• Alex Michaud (The Ohio State University)
• Summer Burton Rupper (University of Utah)
• Sarah Shackleton (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
• Dom Winski (University of Maine)

A virtual meeting of the Ice Core Working Group (ICWG) was held on April, 2024, to discuss updates to the Long Range Science Plan (LRSP) and other ICWG business. Discussions included updates from IDP and the NSF Ice Core Facility (NSF-ICF), discussion about the NSF-ICF Use and Ice Core Sample Allocation Policy, NSF-ICF Sample Allocation Committee membership composition, discussion about the Beacon/Mullins Valley cores archived at the NSF-ICF, updates to the LRSP, and ice drilling technology development priorities for the LRSP. 

The members of the ICWG are: 

• Becky Alexander, Chair (University of Washington)
• T.J. Fudge (University of Washington)
• Alex Michaud (The Ohio State University)
• Summer Burton Rupper (University of Utah)
• Jeff Severinghaus (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
• Sarah Shackleton (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
• Dom Winski (University of Maine)

The U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) convenes a Science Advisory Board (SAB) to form and update the Long Range Science Plan that addresses multiple aspects of ice core and other ice science and associated technology. The annual SAB meeting was held in-person on February 15-16, 2024, in Arlington, VA. The first part of the meeting was an open session and included updates from IDP, the NSF Ice Core Facility, the Ice Core Working Group, and the Englacial and Subglacial Access Working Group (ESAWG). It also included discussions regarding ESAWG planning, and Safe and Inclusive Plan templates. The second part of the meeting was a closed session in which the SAB prioritized the technology investments outlined in the Long Range Science Plan and discussed SAB member rotation and SAB Terms of Reference. 

The members of the SAB are: 

• T.J. Fudge, Chair (University of Washington)
• Joel Harper (University of Montana)
• Matthew Siegfried (Colorado School of Mines)
• Sarah Shackleton (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
• Martin Truffer (University of Alaska Fairbanks)
• Ryan Venturelli (Colorado School of Mines)
• Trista Vick-Majors (Michigan Technological University)

An in-person meeting of the Ice Core Working Group (ICWG) was held on May 11, 2023, at the University of Washington, following the 2nd U.S. Ice Core Open Science Meeting. Several people also attended the meeting via Zoom. Discussions included updates from IDP and the NSF Ice Core Facility, discussion about coordination with other Science Advisory Board (SAB) working groups and the SAB itself, updates to the Long Range Science Plan (LRSP), and ice drilling technology development for the LRSP. The agenda and presentations from the meeting are available on the IDP website.

A virtual meeting of the Ice Core Working Group (ICWG) was held on February 17 to discuss updates to the Long Range Science Plan and other ICWG business. The presentations made during the February meeting are available on the IDP website. Following the U.S. Ice Core Open Science Meeting, a short hybrid (in-person and online) meeting of the ICWG was also held on May 26 in La Jolla, CA.

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The annual Ice Core Working Group (ICWG) meeting was held virtually on March 8 via Zoom. Discussions included updates from NSF and IDP, project updates from Canada, Greenland, and Antarctica, the current status and future plans for the NSF-Ice Core Facility, data archiving, updates to the Long Range Science Plan (LRSP), and ice drilling technology development for the LRSP. The presentations made during the meeting are available on the IDP website at https://icedrill.org/library/presentations-2021-ice-core-working-group-meeting.

IDP held the Ice Core Working Group Community Planning Workshop on April 2-3, 2020. Originally planned to be held in Alexandria, VA, and originally advertised as the Ice Core Science Community Planning Workshop 2020, the workshop was held virtually via Zoom in response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Participants articulated future science targets in Greenland, Antarctica, and alpine glaciers and ice caps (outside Antarctica and Greenland), and discussed recommendations for the NSF Ice Core Facility. The workshop produced the following white papers:

• Community Recommendations for the NSF Ice Core Facility
• Paleoclimate Ice Core Research Priorities in Antarctica
• Alpine Glaciers and Ice Caps
• Ice Core Research Priorities in Greenland

IDP held the Ice Core Working Group Community Planning Workshop on April 2-3. Originally planned to be held in Alexandria, VA, and originally advertised as the Ice Core Science Community Planning Workshop 2020, the workshop was held virtually via Zoom in response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Participants articulated future science targets in Greenland, Antarctica, and alpine glaciers and ice caps (outside Antarctica and Greenland), and also discussed recommendations for the NSF Ice Core Facility. Presentations made during the meeting are available on the IDP website. The workshop produced the following white papers. U.S. scientists are invited to provide additional input to the white papers. Comments and edits are required before June 4, 2020.

• Research Priorities for Alpine Glaciers and Ice Caps
• Community Recommendations for the NSF Ice Core Facility
• Paleoclimate Ice Core Research Priorities in Antarctica
• Ice Core Research Priorities in Greenland

For more information about the ICWG, visit the ICWG webpage.

Information on the location and agenda will be forthcoming — stay tuned!!

The IDPO Ice Core Working Group (ICWG) meeting was held in Alexandria, VA on January 22, 2018. Scientific findings from recent drilling activities were presented, and future possible investigations in Greenland and Antarctica were identified and discussed. The ICWG reaffirmed Hercules Dome as the priority deep drilling site for the community, due to its key location in archiving evidence of past dramatic changes in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Science-technology tradeoffs were discussed regarding use of the Foro 3000 Drill versus the DISC Drill at Hercules Dome; the DISC Drill delivers a larger volume of ice, however the Foro 3000 Drill has much lower logistical requirements. The ICWG came to agreement that the Foro 3000 Drill will be the drill of choice for this important site.

On May 21, 2015, IDPO's Ice Core Working Group (ICWC) held a virtual meeting in which it discussed current and upcoming ice coring issues, and reviewed and approved the prioritization of the drilling technology projects that the IDPO Science Advisory Board had recommended. The meeting was led by ICWG Chair Karl Kreutz.