Long Range Planning

The NSF Ice Drilling Program (IDP), in collaboration with its Science Advisory Board and with input from the research community, updated the Long Range Science Plan. This plan aims to articulate goals and make recommendations for the direction of U.S. ice coring and drilling science across a wide variety of areas of scientific inquiry and to provide recommendations for the development of drilling technology, infrastructure, and logistical support necessary to enable the science. A companion document, the Long Range Drilling Technology Plan, provides details about drills available through IDP. Both plans are revisited and revised as appropriate each spring. The Long Range Science Plan is available at https://icedrill.org/long-range-science-plan. The Long Range Drilling Technology Plan is available at https://icedrill.org/long-range-drilling-technology-plan.

If you envision the need for ice drilling for your project in the coming decade, please make sure that the high-level articulation of your science is captured in the Long Range Science Plan. If it isn’t, send several sentences to IceDrill@Dartmouth.edu describing the science driver and the envisioned field date and location for your project so that your plans are voiced in this planning document.

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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 Englacial and Subglacial Access Working Group (ESAWG) was held on April 9, 2025, to discuss updates to the Long Range Science Plan (LRSP) and other ESAWG business. Discussions included updates from IDP and the NSF Ice Core Facility (NSF-ICF), discussion about an ESAWG white paper, ESAWG priorities for IPY, and ice drilling technology development priorities for the LRSP. The agenda and presentations from the meeting are available on the IDP website.

The members of the ESAWG are:

• Ryan Venturelli, Chair (Colorado School of Mines)
• Jason Briner (SUNY Buffalo)
• Brent Christner (University of Florida)
• Britney Schmidt (Cornell University)
• Jeff Severinghaus (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
• Heidi Smith (Montana State University)
• Joseph Talghader (University of Minnesota)

The NSF Ice Drilling Program (IDP) convenes a Science Advisory Board (SAB) to form and update the Long Range Science Plan (LRSP) that addresses multiple aspects of ice core and other ice science and associated technology. The annual SAB meeting was held virtually on April 17, 2025. Topics included updates from IDP, the NSF Ice Core Facility (NSF-ICF), englacial and subglacial science updates, Englacial and Subglacial Access Working Group (ESAWG) plans for the future, SAB assessment of ESAWG community needs and IDP alignment, ice core science updates, Ice Core Working Group plans for the future, IDP personnel allocation and development priorities, and SAB prioritization of drilling technology development for the Long Range Science Plan. The agenda and presentations from the meeting are available on the IDP website.

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)

Drilling in ice without the use of a borehole fluid can be achieved to depths of 300-350 meters before risking borehole closure. However, the ice cores extracted from depths exceeding 150-180 meters often exhibit very poor core quality. IDP has largely found this to be true, except when drilling at the Allan Hills in Antarctica, a Blue Ice Area (BIA), where core quality deteriorates at depths as shallow as 50 meters. The exact reasons for this deterioration in core quality at shallower depths in BIAs compared to non-BIAs are not fully understood.

In IDP’s 2024 Long Range Science Plan, IDP was tasked with conducting an engineering feasibility study to evaluate and recommend long-term drilling approaches for retrieving high-quality ice cores down to a depth of 400 meters in BIAs. In a new report, IDP outlines several solutions proposed to improve core quality in BIAs, along with the advantages and disadvantages of each. The report also discusses how core quality is defined, the past performance of IDP’s shallow drills, and lessons learned from drilling in non-BIAs. For more information, read the Blue Ice Core Quality Feasibility Study.

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