Meetings / Workshops

Because of COVID-19, the decision was made to translate the School of Ice 2020 to a virtual model from the original residential professional development activity planned for Dartmouth’s campus. The workshop took place on June 28-July 1. A highlight video was created. The IDP EO outside evaluator has completed the evaluation report. To meet the needs of educators who have to teach virtually, IDP created a new series of “Virtual Field Labs” that were introduced during School of Ice. They will soon be widely available to high school and college teachers for use this fall. Working with educator Bill Grosser and Drs. Erich Osterberg, Meredith Kelly, and David Harwood, each Virtual Field Lab features a scientist, a student-generated data activity, and a connection to an important climate change concept like abrupt climate change, sea level rise, and using today’s geology to understand how ice sheets retreat. These will be available soon on http://icedrill-education.org.

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. On June 11, 2020, IDP held the annual SAB Meeting as an online meeting. The first part of the meeting was an open session and included updates from IDP and each of the three SAB working groups: Ice Core Working Group, Subglacial Access Working Group, and Borehole Logging Working Group. The second part of the meeting was a closed session that included an executive session during which the SAB prioritized the technology investments outlined in the Long Range Science Plan and discussed SAB member rotation and SAB Terms of Reference. Slawek Tulaczyk and Erich Osterberg rotated off of the SAB. The SAB selected Trista Vick-Majors, T.J. Fudge, and Martin Truffer as incoming SAB members, and selected ongoing member Jill Mikucki as the incoming Chair. The agenda and presentations from the meeting are available on the IDP website. The members of the SAB are Jill Mikucki (SAB Chair; University of Tennessee), T.J. Fudge (University of Washington), Brent Goehring (Tulane University), Bess Koffman (Colby College), Erin Pettit (Oregon State University), Martin Truffer (University of Alaska Fairbanks), Trista Vick-Majors (Michigan Technological University), and Paul Winberry (Central Washington University).

The School of Ice (SOI) is IDP’s successful residential advanced professional development workshop on ice core science for faculty members from Minority Serving Institutions. In response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the decision was made to translate the School of Ice 2020 to a virtual model from the original residential professional development activity planned for Dartmouth’s campus. Making this decision was especially challenging because of the hands-on interactive nature of the workshop. However, a new workshop model has now been created in which IDP will send kits of materials to the participants to allow hands-on laboratory activities, along with virtual field trips created with the scientists that include student-generated data activities, and presentations and interactions with scientists and engineers.

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.

What: U.S. Ice Drilling Program Ice Core Science Community Planning Workshop
When: April 2-3, 2020
Where: Alexandria, Virginia, USA
Website: https://icedrill.org/meetings/ice-core-science-community-planning-workshop-2020
Registration Deadline: March 13, 2020
Sponsor: Mary Albert, Dartmouth, IDP Executive Director
IDP Ice Core Working Group Conveners: Erich Osterberg, Dartmouth; T.J. Fudge, University of Washington

The U.S. Ice Drilling Program Ice Core Working Group (IDP-ICWG) will hold a U.S. community planning workshop on April 2-3, 2020, at the Residence Inn Alexandria Old Town South at Carlyle in Alexandria, Virginia. The meeting will be all day on Thursday, April 2, and Friday morning, April 3.

Purpose: The purpose of this workshop is to articulate driving scientific questions in ice core research for the coming decade and beyond and identify drilling sites and technological and logistical requirements needed to answer those questions, for contribution to the U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) Long Range Science Plan.

Description: Scientific discoveries achieved in the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets and temperate glaciers are critical to society today, but they are not achieved without significant advance planning. The U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) is sponsoring an interdisciplinary ice community workshop to identify science driving future Arctic and Antarctic ice coring sites, the ice drilling technology that will be needed, and the timeline over the coming decade for advancing ice core science on multiple frontiers. The outcome of the workshop will be white papers describing community endeavors with associated timelines that will become part of the updated U.S. Ice Drilling Program Long Range Science Plan.

Video-conferencing will be available for remote participation.

There is no registration fee for the workshop, but everyone planning to attend (even those attending remotely) MUST register so that we will have an accurate headcount for meeting room space and catering. The registration deadline is March 13. After we receive your registration, we will send you additional details of the meeting as it develops. If you plan to attend via video-conferencing, please indicate that on your registration so that we can be in contact.

Further details regarding the upcoming workshop in Alexandria, VA, including registration instructions, agenda, and future updates, can be found at https://icedrill.org/meetings/ice-core-science-community-planning-workshop-2020.

The U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) offers an NSF-sponsored opportunity for U.S. early career scientists, postdocs, and PhD students in the U.S. to apply for travel support to the October 2020 ICYS and IPICS open science meetings in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Under-represented minorities and scientists from minority-serving institutions are especially encouraged to apply. Successful applicants will be provided air and train tickets and will be registered for the conference by IDP. In addition, successful applicants will receive reimbursement of receipts for their cost of lodging and meals up to a potential maximum of $1,320 US; the exact amount will depend on the number of qualified applicants. Applicants must plan to attend the October 18 ICYS meeting as well. Applicants will be informed of the results of their application from IDP by April 6, 2020.

Applications will be accepted until 31 March 2020. To apply, create one pdf document that contains the following information:

• A one-page brief CV that includes your full name, current position, affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, education, and publication list
• Your draft one-page abstract for the IPICS meeting

Please email your application to IceDrill@Dartmouth.edu before 31 March 2020, under the subject heading “Application for Early Career Travel”.

For the first time, IDP sponsored a booth at AGU to reach more people than was possible at past Town Hall meetings. The booth allowed us to spend time talking with people interested in ice science and several surprise audiences were well represented besides scientists: educators wanting ideas for teaching about ice core research and climate change; undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning about research possibilities and careers; and early career scientists exploring options. It was a dynamic, exhilarating (and exhausting!) week.

In addition, Louise Huffman, Erich Osterberg, and educator Bill Grosser presented a workshop at the GIFT (Geophysical Information for Teachers) conference at AGU. Two new hands-on ice science labs were facilitated, and Erich followed the activities with an interactive talk. Feedback has been very positive. Louise also chaired two oral and two poster sessions and delivered an invited talk and an education and outreach poster.

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

18-23 October 2020
Crans-Montana, Switzerland
Europe/Zurich timezone
https://indico.psi.ch/event/6697/
Email: ipics@psi.ch to be on meeting mailing list

The third Open Science Conference (OSC) of the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) will be held from 18-23 October 2020 in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. The objective of the conference is to present, discuss and put into perspective the most recent results of past and current ice core drilling projects. The theme of the third OSC is Ice Core Science at the three Poles. As in previous IPICS OSCs, part of the conference is a one-day early career scientists workshop on 18 October organized by Ice Core Young Scientists (ICYS).

Important Dates

• 1 January 2020: Abstract submission opens; Registration opens; Travel support applications open
• 30 April 2020: Deadline for abstract submission and travel support applications
• 1 June 2020: Abstract confirmation
• 1 July 2020: Early-bird registration closes
• 1 August 2020: Program online
• 1 September 2020: Online registration closes
• 18 October 2020: Ice Core Young Scientists (ICYS) workshop
• 19-23 October 2020: IPICS 2020 3rd Open Science Conference

For more information, please visit the conference web site at https://indico.psi.ch/event/6697/.

The Ice Drilling Program (IDP) is trying something different this year at AGU. Rather than holding a Town Hall meeting like we have done in the past, this year we will have a booth at the 2019 AGU Fall Meeting! We are hoping that the booth will allow more face time and interaction with everyone, especially early-career scientists. So please stop by our booth and learn about how to obtain drilling support from IDP, the various outreach support that we can provide, and much more! We’ll be at booth 312 during the week.

You can also catch Louise Huffman, IDP’s Director of Education and Public Outreach, at the following AGU activities:

The School of Ice (SOI) is IDP’s successful residential advanced professional development workshop on ice core science for faculty members from Minority Serving Institutions.

The 2019 SOI workshop was held near Denver, Colorado, and included 12 faculty members from Minority Serving Institutions in nine different states. Ten local ice scientists and an additional nine local speakers from related fields made presentations at the workshop. A new IDP teaching lesson plan, “Subglacial Lakes: What’s Happening Under the Ice Sheets?”, was also piloted at the SOI workshop. The lesson plan,  created by Louise Huffman in collaboration with scientist Matt Siegfried, introduces students to the study of subglacial lakes. Post-workshop survey results show that 100% of the participants rated the workshop “met” or “exceeded” expectations. A video highlighting the 2019 SOI activities is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8XKF-171Mo.

Planning for the 2020 SOI workshop, which will be held at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, is already underway.

For the latest information about SOI, visit http://icedrill-education.org/school-of-ice/.

Louise Huffman spoke to the Women's Cultural Alliance (WCA) at the Naples (FL) Daily News Office Community Room on February 6, 2019. She presented ice core science and why it is important, especially for those living in Florida, to an audience of 50 men and women.

Planning the June School of Ice in Denver continues. Huffman traveled to Colorado to meet with representatives from each of the venues: the NSF Ice Core Facility, the University of CO-Boulder/INSTAAR, and the Antarctic Support Contract. During this trip, she also held a meeting with Dr. Matt Siegfried to finalize a new hands-on inquiry lab activity based on subglacial lake science. The activity will be unveiled and tested at the School of Ice this summer before making it widely available on the icedrill-education.org website.

On March 29-30, 2019 the Ice Drilling Program Subglacial Access Working Group Science Planning Workshop was held at the Washington Dulles Marriott Suites Worldgate hotel in Herndon, Virginia. The goal of the interdisciplinary ice community workshop was to identify future Arctic and Antarctic drilling sites for subglacial science, the ice drilling technology that is needed, and the timeline over the coming decade for advancing subglacial science on multiple frontiers.

IDP Subglacial Access Working Group conveners Slawek Tulaczyk and Jill Mikucki worked with workshop participants in generation of the following white papers:

• Assessment of East Antarctic Ice Sheet sensitivity to warming and its potential for contributions to sea level rise
• Access Drilling Priorities in the Ross Ice Shelf Region
• Subglacial Access Working Group (SAWG): Access Drilling Priorities in Greenland

The targeted future drilling sites and dates will be included in the planning matrices of the updated IDP Long Range Science Plan 2019 - 2029, which will be completed in June. The white papers are available on the IDP webpage at https://icedrill.org/about/meetings.shtml.

IDP organized and led the AGU Town Hall on Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions in Washington, DC (December 11, 2018). The session attracted an audience of approximately 100, and included brief presentations on a number of areas, including NSF Remarks, International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS), Ice Drilling Program (IDP), Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA), Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID), and announcements from the audience.

This quarter has been a busy one for Education and Outreach activities. Planning for the School of Ice June 23-26, 2019, in Colorado is well underway with the participant cohort chosen and speakers invited. We have a few more presentation spots available if anyone is interested in sharing their ice core research with a group of faculty from Minority Serving Institutions contact louise.t.huffman@dartmouth.edu.

Researcher T.J. Fudge kindly accepted the invitation to connect through a teleconference with 6th-grade students in Nevada, and the teacher reported a rise in enthusiasm among her students for polar science and climate change topics afterward. Thank you, Dr. Fudge!

In January, Louise led ice core hands-on activities for visitors to the Orlando Science Museum for their Winter Science Month. About 150-200 people visited the IDP table. Thanks to Terry Huffman and four high school volunteers for the extra hands needed to run the activities!

On February 27, Dr. Mary Albert and Louise Huffman presented a Master Class for the Polar Educators International (PEI) webinar series. The Ice Core Science - Using Knowledge to Act webinar explored understanding the evidence of past climate change from polar ice cores as well as adaptation strategies being used by communities already being affected by climate change and how to empower students to take action. Following the webinar, an optional, asynchronous online two-week discussion period about ice core science, climate change, and how to make a student or community action plan began on March 4. You can watch the recorded version of the webinar on the PEI website https://polareducator.org/master-class/ice-core-science/.

What: U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) Subglacial Access Science Planning Workshop
When: March 29-30, 2019
Where: Herndon, Virginia
Website: https://icedrill.org/meetings/subglacial-access-science-planning-workshop-2019

The U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) Subglacial Access Science Planning Workshop will take place in Herndon, Virginia, on March 29-30, 2019. The primary objective of this workshop is to provide focused feedback from the subglacial research community into the IDP Long Range Science Plan. Specifically, we seek to stimulate discussions that will yield a prioritized list of science objectives and associated targets and requirements (sampling, drilling and support needs) for the coming decade for the 2019 update to the IDP Long Range Science Plan. We will provide options for remote participation for the plenary aspects of the workshop, and also we welcome short presentations and/or written feedback from non-attendees.

We plan to have a draft white paper at the end of the workshop, and we will solicit feedback on the draft after the workshop, but before it is finalized, for inclusion in the IDP Long Range Science Plan. White papers that were written after the prior, 2016, subglacial access workshop can be downloaded here: https://icedrill.org/meetings/subglacial-access-drilling-idpo-science-planning-workshop

There is no registration fee for the workshop, but everyone planning to attend should register so that we will have an accurate headcount for meeting room space and catering. Further details regarding the upcoming workshop in Herndon, including registration instructions, agenda, and future updates, can be found at https://icedrill.org/meetings/subglacial-access-science-planning-workshop-2019.

On November 15, 2018, Education and Outreach Director, Louise Huffman, hosted a webinar featuring Dr. T. J. Fudge (University of Washington) who presented ice core science information to 6th grade students in Nevada. Students were thoroughly engaged and asked questions for almost half an hour during and after the presentation. Dr. Fudge's time and dedication to outreach are especially appreciated given that he departed the following week for two months of field research at Hercules Dome, Antarctica.

Applications for the School of Ice to be held in Denver, CO, June 23-26, 2019, are available at https://goo.gl/ZGe7sv or contact Louise Huffman.

Save the date! The U.S. Ice Drilling Program Subglacial Access Working Group (IDP-SAWG) will hold a community planning workshop on March 29-30, 2019 at the Washington Dulles Marriott Suites Worldgate hotel in Herndon, Virginia. The meeting will be all day on Friday March 29, and Saturday morning March 30. Another announcement will come out in mid-December with additional details.

Please pre-register for the meeting by following the instructions on the workshop website, https://icedrill.org/meetings/subglacial-access-science-planning-workshop-2019. After we receive your pre-registration, we will send you additional details of meeting logistics and agenda.

Description: Scientific discoveries achieved from evidence within, and beneath the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets and temperate glaciers are critical to society today, but they are not achieved without significant advance planning. The U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) will sponsor an interdisciplinary ice community workshop to identify future Arctic and Antarctic drilling sites for subglacial science, the ice drilling technology that is needed, and the timeline over the coming decade for advancing subglacial science on multiple frontiers. The outcome of the workshop will be white papers describing community endeavors with associated timelines that will become part of the updated IDP Long Range Science Plan.

The U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) will hold the AGU Town Hall on Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions on Tuesday, December 11, at the Marriott Marquis room Independence E from 12:30-13:30. The meeting is convened by Mary Albert with co-convenor John Goodge. In addition, at this Town Hall a representative of the International Glaciological Society will present the IGS Richardson Medal to Dr. Julie Palais.

Abstract: Ice sheets, glaciers, and the underlying bedrock, sediment and permafrost hold crucial evidence of past climate, ice sheet dynamics, and cratonic geology. National and international collaboration for drilling in the remote polar regions requires strategic coordination between science, technology, and logistics. This meeting will provide the research community with updates on IDP, IPICS, RAID, and SALSA drilling initiatives. Opportunities for community involvement will be showcased, and input from the audience will be solicited.

Date: Tuesday, 11 December 2018
Time: 12:30 - 13:30
Location: Marriott Marquis - Independence E
AGU meeting website: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm18/meetingapp.cgi/Session/56028
For additional information: please contact Mary Albert

IDPO organized and led the AGU Town Hall on Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions in New Orleans (December 12, 2017). The session attracted an audience of approximately 30, and included brief presentations on a number of areas, including NSF Remarks, International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS), Ice Drilling Program Office - Ice Drilling Design and Operations (IDPO-IDDO), Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA), Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID), and announcements from the audience.

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.

The School of Ice is an experiential advanced professional development workshop, funded by NSF, for faculty at Minority Serving Institutions who want the opportunity to expand their knowledge of Earth's climate record through analysis of paleoclimate records collected with drilling support by the US Ice Drilling Program. Participants build scientific knowledge and skills while engaging in hands-on investigations and exploring resources for transferring ice science to their existing courses or to newly developed ones. They will network with ice core scientists, engineers and educators as well as with other workshop participants.

The application is available at http://climate-expeditions.org/school-of-ice-application-and-video/ .

Applications are due by January 31, 2018.

The Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) is once again organizing a Town Hall meeting at the Fall AGU Meeting entitled 'TH23H: Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions'. Ice sheets, glaciers, and the underlying bedrock, sediment and permafrost hold crucial evidence of past climate, ice sheet extent, and cratonic geology. National and international collaboration for drilling in the remote polar regions requires strategic coordination between science, technology, and logistics. This meeting will provide the research community with updates on IDPO-IDDO, IPICS, IPA, RAID, and SALSA drilling initiatives. Opportunities for community involvement will be showcased, and input from the audience will be solicited.

Date: Tuesday, 12 December 2017
Time: 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Place: New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center - 208-209

AGU meeting website for more information:
https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm17/meetingapp.cgi/Session/30134

For further information, please contact Mary Albert (Mary.R.Albert at dartmouth dot edu)

On May 22-23, 2016, IDPO held the Subglacial Access Science Community Planning Workshop in Herndon, Virginia, which was a science-planning meeting organized by IDPO Director Mary Albert and was open to the community and to NSF. The goal of the meeting was to identify community consensus on the major community science projects in the coming decade that would need subglacial access drilling. Attendees at the workshop included 30 scientists, four NSF program managers, and one representative of Antarctic Support Contract. IDPO Subglacial Access Working Group (IDPO-SAWG) members Jill Mikucki, Ross Powell, and John Goodge led the discussions at the meeting, facilitated by Mary Albert of IDPO. The workshop produced the following four white papers, which are available on the IDPO-IDDO website at http://icedrill.org/about/sab-working-groups.shtml#sawg:

• Access Drilling Priorities in Ice Shelves and Ice Streams - Thwaites Glacier Region
• Access Drilling Priorities in Subglacial Aquatic Environments
• Access Drilling Priorities in the Antarctic Continental Interior
• Access Drilling Priorities in the Ross Sea Sector of the Antarctic Ice Sheet

IDPO conducted the annual Science Advisory Board (SAB) meeting in Madison, WI, on March 6-7. And IDDO conducted its annual Technical Advisory Board (TAB) meeting in Madison, WI, on March 7-8 to allow the two boards to overlap and talk with one another on March 7. The presentations and minutes from the meetings are available on the IDPO-IDDO website at http://icedrill.org/about/sab.shtml and http://icedrill.org/about/tab.shtml.

IDPO planned and convened the AGU Town Hall on Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions (December 13, 2016). The session included National Science Foundation remarks by Mike Jackson, IDPO-IDDO updates by Mary Albert, an update on International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences by Ed Brook, and an update on and the U.S. Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) by Bob Hawley (on behalf of John Goodge). As discussed during the Town Hall, U.S. scientists are encouraged to get involved in planning for the IDPO Long Range Science Plan and engage with the IDPO Science Advisory Board working groups.

The U.S. Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) is once again organizing a Town Hall meeting at the Fall AGU Meeting entitled 'TH010: Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions'. Ice sheets, glaciers, and the underlying bedrock, sediment and permafrost hold crucial evidence of past climate, ice sheet extent, and cratonic geology. National and international collaboration for drilling in the remote polar regions requires strategic coordination between science, technology, and logistics. This meeting will provide the research community with updates on IDPO-IDDO, IPICS, IPA, RAID, and WISSARD drilling initiatives. Opportunities for community involvement will be showcased, and input from the audience will be solicited.

Date: Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Time: 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Place: Moscone West, 2005
Convener: Mary Albert

AGU meeting website for more information: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm16/meetingapp.cgi/Session/14227

For further information, please contact Mary Albert (Mary.R.Albert at dartmouth.edu)

School of Ice
In May, twelve nationally selected college professors from Minority-Serving Institutions attended the second "School of Ice" held in Denver, Colorado. Senior researchers presented the latest scientific and engineering content via live and virtual presentations, while IDPO led the Leadership Team including Lockheed's Antarctic Support Contract, Polar Field Services, National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL), and University of Colorado Boulder's INSTAAR also contributed to the packed four-day agenda. One of the participants from the first School of Ice contributed to the agenda by attending and leading a hands-on activity she has used successfully with the students at her institution. Created by IDPO, the project was the result of a partnership with the American Meteorological Society. Funding was provided to IDPO by Lockheed Martin.

Education and Outreach Event at Montshire Museum, Vermont
On May 11, 2016, six Dartmouth graduate students worked with IDPO Director of Education & Public Outreach Louise Huffman to plan an outreach event for the public at the Montshire Museum in Norwich, VT. Students and their parents from local school districts were invited to spend an evening exploring polar science including specific activities about ice core science. Students tried on Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear, "swam" in the Southern Ocean wearing blubber gloves, operated an ice core drill model, touched a real Greenland ice core, looked at cross polarization in ice crystals, and using "glacier goo", raced glaciers down different surfaces to explore how a glacier moves.

Summer Inquiry Science Workshops for Inner City Chicago Public School Teachers
In July, workshops for K-12 teachers who teach in high-risk Chicago public schools were held at Oak Park and River Forest High School, the University of Chicago and the Chicago Field Museum. Ice core science was incorporated into the existing curriculum. In the introductory inquiry science week, the story of how ice cores were shipped from WAIS Divide, Antarctica, to the National Ice Core Laboratory in Denver, CO, USA was used as the 'hook' before participants were challenged to build an "ice core shipping container" that would keep their ice core frozen with the least mass lost. In the advanced inquiry week, IDPO's Louise Huffman presented a climate change day based on ice core activities. The resources and activities were well received by the teachers. Workshops were paid for by the Golden Apple Foundation.

On May 22-23, 2016, IDPO held the 2016 Subglacial Access Science Community Planning Workshop in Herndon, Virginia, which was a science-planning meeting organized by IDPO Director Mary Albert and was open to the community and to NSF. The goal of the meeting was to identify community consensus on the major community science projects in the coming decade that would need subglacial access drilling. Attendees at the workshop included 30 scientists, four NSF program managers, and one representative of Antarctic Support Contract. IDPO Subglacial Access Working Group (IDPO-SAWG) members Jill Mikucki, Ross Powell, and John Goodge led the discussions at the meeting, facilitated by Mary Albert of IDPO. IDDO Program Director Kristina Slawny and Terry Benson (Physical Sciences Lab, University of Wisconsin – Madison) also participated in the workshop. Download the workshop's final agenda and participant list. The workshop produced the following white papers:

• Access Drilling Priorities in Ice Shelves and Ice Streams - Thwaites Glacier Region
• Access Drilling Priorities in Subglacial Aquatic Environments
• Access Drilling Priorities in the Antarctic Continental Interior
• Access Drilling Priorities in the Ross Sea Sector of the Antarctic Ice Sheet

The IDPO Science Advisory Board (SAB) meeting was held on April 11-12, 2016 at the Hilton Arlington in Arlington, VA. Planning for the meeting was a joint effort by Mary Albert and SAB Chair Ed Brook. With participation of the entire SAB membership and attendance by several program officers and section heads at NSF Polar Programs, as well as IDPO and IDDO management, the meeting was very productive in identifying the future direction of the science for the IDPO Long Range Science Plan and associated ice-drilling endeavors. Discussions also involved scenarios of possibilities for future hot water ice access drilling.

Teachers from across the nation were engaged in multiple IDPO educational outreach events at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Conference in Nashville, TN. Approximately 88 educators participated in several hands-on activities about ice science and climate that they can use in their classrooms.

IDPO planned and convened the AGU Town Hall on Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions (Dec 17, 2015) with co-convenor John Goodge. Presentations and Q&A were held on the topics of IDPO-IDDO (Albert), International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS; Severinghaus), Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID; Goodge), and Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD; Mikucki).

May 22-23, 2016
Marriott Washington Dulles Suites
Herndon, Virginia, USA

Scientific discoveries achieved from, within, and beneath the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, ice caps and valley glaciers are critical to society today, but large group endeavors are not achieved without significant advance planning. What is your vision for future subglacial science? The U.S. Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) is hosting an interdisciplinary science community-planning workshop to identify the science drivers, targets, and timelines of subglacial access drilling for the coming decade. Outcomes from the workshop will be used in the IDPO Long Range Science Plan for 2016-2026. This workshop, originally scheduled for January but postponed due to winter storm Jonas, has been rescheduled to May 22-23, 2016.

The goal of this workshop is to form consensus within the U.S. science community on scientific goals, potential drilling targets, and proposed dates and timelines for major science projects that will require subglacial access drilling over the coming decade, possibly in joint endeavors with international partners. This information will be used in the 2016-2026 update of the IDPO Long Range Science Plan, which is the foundation for identifying and developing appropriate drilling technologies for use in larger projects defined by the U.S. science community. The workshop will be held on May 22-23, 2016, at the Washington Dulles Marriott Suites Hotel in Herndon, VA. All interested scientists who will be seeking science funding from a U.S. agency are encouraged to participate, including, but not limited to, those from the fields of glaciology, paleoclimatology, glacial geology, biology, and earth science. Scientists should come to the workshop prepared to summarize scientific research questions to be addressed by subglacial drilling in the coming decade, and to identify likely target areas, technologies needed, and timelines for completion of projects that they are likely to propose in the near-term or long-term future.

Sponsor and IDPO Lead:
Mary Albert, Dartmouth

IDPO Subglacial Access Working Group Conveners:
Ross Powell, Northern Illinois University
Jill Mikucki, Middlebury College
John Goodge, University of Minnesota-Duluth

Dates:
Sat, May 21: arrive in evening
Sun, May 22: meeting all day
Mon, May 23: meeting in morning; return home in afternoon

More information is posted, along with the online registration form, at https://icedrill.org/meetings/subglacial-access-drilling-idpo-science-planning-workshop. Attendees should register at this site.

** Registration for the workshop closes on Friday, May 6. **

10-minute presentation slots are available in the agenda for participants interested in "making the case" for specific future subglacial drilling projects. Please indicate your interest in making a brief presentation in the registration form. We will send registered participants updates on the agenda and details of the meeting. Feel free to send comments to us at Icedrill@Dartmouth.edu, or contact one of us directly.

Workshop website and registration:
https://icedrill.org/meetings/subglacial-access-drilling-idpo-science-planning-workshop

IDDO held its annual Technical Advisory Board (TAB) Meeting in Madison, WI, on September 14-15, with drilling experts from all over the world and from a wide variety of fields. IDDO presented on the current status of IDDO field projects, equipment development projects, and equipment maintenance and upgrade efforts. As with each TAB meeting, IDDO gained very valuable feedback from board members on equipment development projects, ideas regarding new technologies in ice drilling and other fields, as well as input on field project logistics. Notes from the meeting are available at https://icedrill.org/about/tab.shtml.

May 2016 looks to be an exciting month for those seeking professional development related to the role of ice core research in climate education. In its second year, the Lockheed Martin-funded "School of Ice", developed by the U.S. Ice Drilling Program Office in partnership with the American Meteorological Society's education program, is actively seeking qualified candidates for the four day, Denver-based, residential course on ice core science. If you or your colleagues teach environmental and/or geoscience courses at a community college, undergraduate institution or university classified as a Minority-Serving Institution, this experiential week may be just for you!

The calendar dates are May 22-26, 2016. Information on course content is available from Linda Morris at linda.m.morris at dartmouth dot edu. Application materials can be accessed online at http://goo.gl/forms/HvHqFjizVy or contact Elizabeth Mills at mills at ametsoc dot org to receive them by email. Come join us!

January 21-23, 2016
Marriott Washington Dulles Suites
Herndon, Virginia, USA

Scientific discoveries achieved from, within, and beneath the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, ice caps and valley glaciers are critical to society today, but large group endeavors are not achieved without significant advance planning. What is your vision for future subglacial science? The U.S. Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) is hosting an interdisciplinary science community-planning workshop to identify the science drivers, targets, and timelines of subglacial access drilling for the coming decade. The goal of this workshop is to form consensus within the U.S. science community on scientific goals, potential drilling targets, and proposed dates and timelines for major science projects that will require subglacial access drilling over the coming decade, possibly in joint endeavors with international partners. This information will be used in the 2016-2026 update of the IDPO Long Range Science Plan, which is the foundation for identifying and developing appropriate drilling technologies for use in larger projects defined by the U.S. science community. This workshop will be held on January 21-23, 2016, at the Washington Dulles Marriott Suites Hotel in Herndon, VA. All interested scientists who will be seeking science funding from a U.S. agency are encouraged to participate, including, but not limited to, those from the fields of glaciology, paleoclimatology, glacial geology, biology, and earth science. Scientists should come to the meeting prepared to summarize scientific research questions to be addressed by subglacial drilling in the coming decade, and to identify likely target areas, technologies needed, and timelines for completion of projects that they are likely to propose in the near-term or long-term future.

Sponsor and IDPO Lead:
Mary Albert, Dartmouth

IDPO Subglacial Access Working Group Conveners:
Ross Powell, Northern Illinois University
Jill Mikucki, Middlebury College
John Goodge, University of Minnesota-Duluth

More information is posted, along with the online registration form, at https://icedrill.org/meetings/subglacial-access-drilling-idpo-science-planning-workshop. Attendees should register at this site. 10-minute presentation slots are available in the agenda for participants interested in "making the case" for specific future subglacial drilling projects. Please indicate your interest in making a brief presentation in the registration form. We will send registered participants updates on the agenda and details of the meeting. Feel free to send comments to us at Icedrill at Dartmouth dot edu, or contact one of us directly.

Background Information:
The current IDPO Long Range Science Plan for the ice coring and drilling community is available for download on www.Icedrill.org; we update the plan every year in June. This plan drives the NSF budget for U.S. ice drilling activities. We encourage scientists to work with IDPO to forecast your science plans over the next decade -- this enables us to ensure that the ice drilling technology will be ready when needed by your science.

Outcomes from this workshop will be directly incorporated into the IDPO Long Range Science Plan. Specifically, discussions from this meeting will be reflected in the science descriptions, timeline and planning matrices in the Long Range Science Plan, and will be used to identify drills, platforms and logistical support needed to achieve the science. We hope that you and your colleagues will join us in this planning.

The U.S. Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) is once again organizing a Town Hall meeting at the Fall AGU Meeting entitled 'TH43G: Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions'. Ice sheets and the underlying bedrock and sediment and permafrost hold crucial evidence of past climate and cratonic geology. National and international collaboration for drilling in the remote polar regions requires strategic coordination between science, technology, and logistics. This town hall will provide the research community with updates on IDPO-IDDO, IPICS, RAID, and WISSARD initiatives. Opportunities for community involvement will be showcased, and input from the audience will be solicited.

Date: Thursday, 17 December 2015
Time: 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Place: Moscone West - Room 2002

AGU meeting website for more information:
http://tinyurl.com/olegvq5

For further information, please contact Mary Albert (Mary.R.Albert at dartmouth.edu)

On July 1, 2015, IDPO presented a webinar to the Borehole Logging Working Group (BLWG) on innovations in borehole logging techniques used in industry. Bill Eustes led the workshop.

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.

The IDPO Science Advisory Board (SAB) meeting was held on April 16-17, 2015 at the Hilton Arlington in Arlington, VA. Planning for the meeting was a joint effort by Mary Albert and SAB Chair Ed Brook. With participation of the entire SAB membership and attendance by seven NSF Program Managers as well as IDPO and IDDO management, the meeting was very productive in identifying the future direction of the science for the IDPO Long Range Science Plan and associated ice-drilling endeavors. Discussions also involved scenarios of possibilities for future hot water ice access drilling. The minutes and presentations from the meeting are available at http://icedrill.org/about/sab.shtml .

The initial cadre of participants has been selected from a highly competitive field of applicants for the IDPO and the American Meteorological Society co-sponsored "School of Ice". The twelve participants are professors from ten different states, have an even female/male gender count, and come from a variety of minority serving institutions, including Minority Serving Institutions, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Final preparations will continue for the event, which will occur in June 2015.

On December 15, 2014, the fifth annual Town Hall on Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions organized by Mary Albert was held at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. This year John Goodge was the co-convener. The event provided the research community with updates on IDPO-IDDO (Mary Albert), International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS; Ed Brook and Dorthe Dahl-Jensen), RAID (John Goodge and Blaise Stephanus), WISSARD (Slawek Tulaczyk), and NSF (Lisa Clough and Nature McGinn), and also included interactive discussion with the audience. The successful event included approximately 75 attendees.

IDDO held its annual Technical Advisory Board (TAB) Meeting in Madison, WI on September 9-10, with drilling experts from all over the world and from a wide variety of fields. The meeting was well attended by 9 of 12 TAB members, one proxy TAB member, IDDO staff, members from IDPO, former IDDO PI Charlie Bentley and new IDDO PI Mark Mulligan. IDDO presented on the current status of IDDO field projects, equipment development projects and equipment maintenance and upgrade efforts. As with each TAB meeting, IDDO gained very valuable feedback from board members on equipment development projects, ideas regarding new technologies in ice drilling and other fields, as well as input on field project logistics.

Notes from the meeting will be available at https://icedrill.org/about/tab.shtml

Date: 15 December 2014
Time: 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Place: Moscone West - Room 2006

TH13C. Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions
IDPO is once again organizing a town hall meeting at the Fall AGU Meeting entitled 'Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions'. Ice sheets and the underlying bedrock and sediment hold crucial evidence of past climate and cratonic geology. National and international collaboration for drilling in the remote polar regions requires strategic coordination between science, technology, and logistics. This town hall will provide the research community with updates on IDPO-IDDO, NICL, IPICS, RAID, and ANDRILL initiatives. Opportunities for community involvement will be showcased, and input from the audience will be solicited.

AGU Meeting website for more information:
http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2014/events/th13c-scientific-drilling-in-the-polar-regions/

IDPO organized and hosted the Community Workshop on Ice Coring and the Ice Core Working Group Meeting, which were both productive meetings and served to gather input from the community useful for long range planning. Similar meetings will be organized for the subglacial and borehole logging communities in the coming 18 months.

Date: 12 December 2013
Time: 6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Place: Moscone West Room 2003

TH45B. Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions

IDPO is once again organizing a Town Hall meeting at the Fall AGU Meeting entitled "Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions". Ice sheets and ocean sediments hold crucial evidence of past climate. National and international collaboration for drilling in the remote polar regions requires strategic coordination between science, technology, and logistics. The research community is invited to hear updates on recent planning including IDPO-IDDO, NICL, IPICS, RAID and ANDRILL initiatives. Opportunities for community involvement will be showcased and input solicited.

AGU Meeting website for more information:
http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2013/events/th45b-scientific-drilling-in-the-polar-regions/

The International Workshop on Ice Caves (IWIC) is a series of workshops devoted entirely to ice cave research. IWIC is the only conference focused on state-of-the-art in ice cave research, where international experts discuss ongoing research efforts and promote global cooperation in ice cave science and management. These meetings have happened every year since 2004, and all in Europe. The next IWIC, IWIC-VI, will be held next year on 17-22 August 2014 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA!

For Europeans this will be the first opportunity to see cave ice in a completely different setting—lava tubes! For North Americans and many others, this is an excellent opportunity to meet with the world's leading cave ice experts. Major themes of IWIC-VI include:

• Cave glaciology and ice dynamics
• Cave meteorology and climatology
• Cryo-mineralogy and cryo-crystallography
• Paleoclimatology and global change
• Chemistry and geochemistry of ice caves
• Ice cave management and technology
• Glacier caves

In fact, IWIC-VI welcomes papers on any topic involving cave ice.

IWIC is a conference of the Glacier, Firn, and Ice Caves Commission of the International Union of Speleology, and the National Cave and Karst Research Institute of the USA are hosting IWIC-VI.

For more information, visit http://www.iwic-vi.org/index.html. Save the dates and look for more information to be posted on the conference's website within 3-4 months on registration and submitting papers for the conference.

Registration is now open for the 2013 WAIS Divide Ice Core Science Meeting to be held on 24-25 September at the Scripps Seaside Forum in La Jolla, CA. The meeting will have activities for all of both days and the evening of the 24th. Everyone associated with the project is encouraged to attend. Additional focus meetings will be held on Monday, 23 September, to provide an opportunity to go into greater depth on topics of interest to only a portion of the WAIS Divide community.

Deadlines:
Saturday, August 24

• Last day to register for meeting at $150 price point
• Last day to submit abstracts to Joe Souney (joseph dot souney @ unh dot edu)
• Last day to book a hotel room at the group rate at the La Jolla Shores Hotel

Saturday, August 31

• Last day to register for meeting (at $200 price point)

For the latest information about the meeting, visit: http://waisdivide.unh.edu/meetings/index.shtml

The 2013 WAIS Divide Ice Core Science Meeting will be held on 24-25 September at the Scripps Seaside Forum in La Jolla, CA. The meeting will have activities for all of both days and the evening of the 24th. Everyone associated with the project is encouraged to attend. Additional focus meetings will be held on Monday, 23 September, to provide an opportunity to go into greater depth on topics of interest to only a portion of the WAIS Divide community. For the latest information about the meeting, visit:
http://waisdivide.unh.edu/meetings/index.shtml

Registration is now open for the 7th International Workshop on Ice Drilling Technology, to be held at the Pyle Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA, from 9-13 September 2013. The deadline for registration is 30 June 2013. Please note that if you previously submitted an "Expression of Interest" to attend the workshop you must now actually register for the workshop. To register for the workshop, visit:
http://icedrill.org/meetings/7th-international-workshop-ice-drilling-technology

Submission of abstracts for the workshop is now also open. Participants wishing to give an oral presentation and/or present a poster are required to submit an abstract. The deadline for submitting abstracts is 30 June 2013. A program containing all of the submitted abstracts will be provided to all workshop participants. In order for your abstract to be included in the program handout it must be submitted by the deadline. All abstracts must be submitted by using the online form located at:
http://icedrill.org/meetings/7th-international-workshop-ice-drilling-technology

The workshop will take a comprehensive look at the latest innovations in ice drilling technology, including ice coring, borehole logging, subglacial sampling, core logging and handling, and field logistics. The workshop will promote the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and experience among many countries and individuals who are involved in ice drilling projects. People active in the technical side of ice drilling are especially encouraged to participate, as are technical representatives from nations who have recently begun ice drilling programs for the first time.

The workshop will begin Monday evening with registration and an icebreaker. The main form of presentations will be oral sessions (approx. 20 minutes per talk) during the day on Tuesday through Friday. On Tuesday, from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm, there will be a dedicated poster session. The posters will be displayed in their own room near the meeting room, and may remain on display for the duration of the conference. On Wednesday afternoon there is an optional guided tour of short segments of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail led by Emeritus Prof. Dave Mickelson, co-author of Geology of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail.

Workshop participants must make their own hotel reservations. Rooms have been held at several hotels close to the Pyle Center. The rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information visit:
http://icedrill.org/meetings/7th-international-workshop-ice-drilling-technology

For more information about the workshop and to download the 2nd circular, visit:
http://icedrill.org/meetings/7th-international-workshop-ice-drilling-technology

IDPO was active in the American Geophysical Union meeting, December 3-7, 2012. Albert organized and Twickler participated in the AGU Town Hall on Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions, an interdisciplinary event which included contributions from IDPO-IDDO (Albert), NICL (Twickler), IPICS (Brook), Oldest Ice (Severinghaus), RAID (Goodge), ANDRILL (Levy), and SCAR-PAIS (DeConto).

Linda Morris organized the AGU sessions on climate literacy challenges related to the emerging Next Generation Science Standards. Linda Morris was Lead Convener for two oral and one poster sessions at the AGU fall conference. The full day strand, entitled Climate Literacy: Preparing K-12 Students to Address Next Generation Challenges, targeted educational leaders and scientists and offered presentations by national speakers involved with the changing science standards, their role in promoting climate change education and best practices for their implementation.

The 7th International Workshop on Ice Drilling Technology, which is sponsored by IDPO-IDDO and is endorsed by IPICS, will be held at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA, from 9-13 September 2013.

The workshop will take a comprehensive look at the latest technological innovations in ice drilling technology, including ice coring, borehole logging, subglacial sampling, core logging, on handling and field logistics. The workshop will promote the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and experience among many countries and individuals who are involved in ice drilling projects. People active in the technical side of ice drilling are especially encouraged to participate, as are technical representatives from nations who have recently begun ice drilling programs for the first time.

The workshop will begin Monday evening with registration and an icebreaker. The main form of presentations will be oral sessions (approx. 20 min per talk) during the day on Tuesday through Friday. On Tuesday, from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm, there will be a dedicated poster session. The posters will be displayed in their own room near the meeting room, and may remain on display for the duration of the conference. On Wednesday afternoon there will be an optional field excursion.

If you are interested in attending the workshop please complete the expression of interest form as soon as possible, but no later than 12 April 2013.
https://icedrill.org/meetings/7th-international-workshop-ice-drilling-technology

Participants wishing to give either an oral presentation and/or present a poster are required to submit an abstract. Deadline for abstract submission is 30 June 2013.

The first circular for the workshop has already been released and can be download from the workshop's website. The second circular (early 2013) will give more information about travel and accommodation arrangements, registration, the general program, excursions, and guidelines for abstracts and papers.

For the latest information about the workshop, visit:
https://icedrill.org/meetings/7th-international-workshop-ice-drilling-technology

The University of California-Irvine (Saltzman, PI), University of Washington (Steig, PI) and University of New Hampshire (Twickler, PI) have recently been funded to obtain a 1500 meter ice core at the South Pole. Drilling is planned for 2014-2015 (~700 m, through the Holocene) and 2015-2016 (to 1500 m / 40,000 years). The drilling will be conducted with the new Intermediate Depth Drill currently under development by IDDO. The ice core obtained will be 9.8 cm in diameter, about 1/2 the volume of the WAIS Divide core, so availability of ice to the community will be less. Proposals to work on the core will need a letter of support from the South Pole Ice Core Executive Committee, currently composed of Eric Saltzman, Eric Steig, Murat Aydin, and Tom Neumann. If you intend to submit a proposal to work on the South Pole ice core, please let the Executive Committee know by sending an email to contact@spicecore.org. In particular, it is important to let them know if you have any special sampling needs, such as sampling in the field. Planning is already underway for the ice core trench; the intention is to process only minimally in the field.

In addition, the first planning workshop for the project is planned for Tuesday, March 19, Friday, February 22, 2013 at the Millennium Harvest House in Boulder, CO. The purpose of the workshop is to give scientists interested in participating in the South Pole Ice Core project an opportunity to discuss site selection, science goals, and analytical measurements, as well as an opportunity to coordinate the submission of science proposals (to analyze the ice) in June April, 2013. The intention is to have web-conferencing capability for the workshop so that people can participate in the workshop remotely, if desired. To help plan for the workshop, please let the PIs know (by sending an email to contact@spicecore.org) if you are interested in participating in the workshop, and if so, if you believe you will attend the workshop in person or via web-conferencing.

For the lastest information about the project, and to subscribe to the project's electronic mailing list, visit: http://spicecore.org

The IDPO/IDDO will hold the 7th International Workshop on Ice Drilling Technology in 2013. The workshop will be held at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA, from 9-13 September. Following in the footsteps of the six previous ice drilling technology workshops held between 1974 and 2006, the 7th International Workshop on Ice Drilling Technology will take a comprehensive look at the latest technological innovations in ice drilling technology, including ice coring, borehole logging, subglacial sampling, and field logistics. The workshop will promote the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and experience among many countries and individuals who are involved in ice drilling projects. People active in the technical side of ice drilling are especially encouraged to participate. Papers from the workshop will be published in a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal. The first circular for the workshop will be released soon. For the latest information about the workshop, visit:
https://icedrill.org/meetings/7th-international-workshop-ice-drilling-technology

Date: 3 December 2012
Time: 6:15 pm - 7:15 pm
Place: Moscone Center; Moscone West, Room 2008

IDPO is once again organizing a Town Hall meeting at the Fall AGU Meeting entitled "Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions". Ice sheets and ocean sediments hold important climate evidence from the past. International collaboration for drilling in the polar regions requires coordination between science, technology, and logistics. Presenters at this meeting will report on recent planning by the IDPO/IDDO, IPICS, ANDRILL, IODP, SCAR-ACE and WAIS initiatives. Opportunities for community involvement in interdisciplinary planning will be highlighted and input solicited. The Town Hall is on Monday, December 3 from 6:15 pm - 7:15 pm in Moscone West, room 2008. Please check the 2012 Fall AGU Meeting website for more information:
http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2012/calendar/town-halls/

IDPO finished its effort to make all of the proceedings from the six international workshops on ice drilling technology held to date available online at: http://www.icedrill.org/library/index.shtml

There are a total of 160 papers from the workshops, bringing the total number of ice drilling technical documents now available to the community via the web site to 287.

IDDO held its annual Technical Advisory Board (TAB) Meeting in Madison, WI on April 24-25, with drilling experts from a wide variety of fields. The meeting was well attended by all TAB members but one, IDDO staff, an IDPO representative, two distinguished guests from the Polar Research Center at Jilin University in China and others, including NSF Program Manager Julie Palais via phone. IDDO presented on the current status of IDDO field projects and current equipment status and gained valuable feedback from board members on equipment development projects. Notes from the meeting will be available at http://icedrill.org/about/tab.shtml

IDPO is once again organizing a Town Hall meeting at the 2011 Fall AGU Meeting entitled "Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions". ANDRILL and SCAR-ACE are co-sponsors of the event. Presenters at this meeting will report on recent planning from the IDPO/IDDO, IPICS, ANDRILL, IODP, SCAR-ACE, SHALDRIL, WAIS, and Arctic Ocean drilling initiatives, and will provide time to discuss current opportunities for community involvement in long-term interdisciplinary planning. The workshop is on Thursday, December 8 from 12:30-1:30 PM in the Moscone West, Room 2006. Please check the 2011 Fall AGU Meeting web site for more information (http://sites.agu.org/fallmeeting/).

IDDO organized and conducted the annual TAB meeting in Madison, WI on April 20-21 with all eleven board members (six international) present along with two Chinese drilling engineers. Also attending were IDPO PIs and staff members, Eric Saltzman representing the IDPO Science Advisory Board, SSEC staff members, two contract drillers, and the IDDO staff.

For more information about the TAB, visit: http://icedrill.org/about/tab.shtml

The first Open Science Conference of the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) will be held from 1-5 October 2012 at the beautiful setting of the Belembra club, situated on the border of the Mediterranean Sea in one of the best spots of the French Cote d'Azur.

The objective of the conference is to present, discuss and put into perspective the most recent results of past and current ice core drilling projects (deep drillings such as EPICA, WAIS Divide, NEEM, TALDICE,... but also shallow drillings) in Antarctica and Greenland. Other ice core drilling projects conducted in non-polar glaciers or in other Arctic sites are also welcome. For more information, please visit the conference web site at: http://www.ipics2012.org/.

The Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) sponsored an interdisciplinary ice community workshop to identify future Arctic and Antarctic drilling/coring sites, the ice drilling technology that will be needed, and the timeline over the coming decade for conducting scientific endeavors important for advancing science on new frontiers. The workshop, organized by Mary Albert, enabled community consensus on plans for future endeavors to tackle challenging questions using evidence from within and under glaciers and ice sheets, including rapid access to the base of the ice sheet, lightweight human-portable drills, agile horizontal clean drilling for biological studies, and modular hot water drills. Scientists from a variety of disciplines participated in the workshop, which was an open workshop with invited and contributed talks.

On April 15-16, 2011 the IDPO sponsored an interdisciplinary Ice Drilling Science Community Planning Workshop held in Herndon, VA. The purpose of the workshop was to identify future Arctic and Antarctic ice drilling and coring sites, the ice drilling technology that will be needed at the sites, and the timeline over the coming decade for conducting the science. The workshop was well attended, with thirty-four people from the science, science support, and science funding communities in attendance, and proved to be very productive. The first day of the workshop started with short presentations from the scientists discussing their current ice drilling technology needs/desires. The afternoon involved forming four break-out groups centered around the following subject areas: (1) subglacial aquatic environments access drilling; (2) 10-year plan for shallow (1-400 meter deep) coring capabilities; (3) rapid access ice drilling (RAID) system; and (4) hot water drilling. Each break-out group discussed future drilling sites, drilling requirements, and tentative schedules, and began summarizing the information in a short white paper. Day two continued with the individual break-out group discussions and white paper development, and concluded with each break-out group reporting back to the entire workshop on their developments and whole group discussions.

Results from the workshop are reflected in updates to the science descriptions, timeline and planning matrices in the Long Range Science Plan and the corresponding Long Range Drilling Technology Plan to help ensure that the drilling technology will be ready when needed by the community's science.

For the workshop agenda and the list of workshop attendees, visit the workshop's web site: https://icedrill.org/meetings/2011-ice-drilling-science-community-planning-workshop

This spring the IDPO is sponsoring an interdisciplinary ice community planning workshop to identify future Arctic and Antarctic drilling/coring sites, the ice drilling technology that will be needed, and the timeline over the coming decade for conducting scientific endeavors important for advancing science on many frontiers. The 2-day workshop will be open to the entire community and is planned for April 15-16. The workshop will be held at a location near Washington D.C. so that NSF program managers will have an opportunity to attend, and will be located close enough to an airport so that people from the west coast can fly in and out easily.

Results from the workshop will be reflected in updates in the science descriptions, timeline, and planning matrices in the Long Range Science Plan and Long Range Drilling Technology Plan, so that we can ensure that the drilling technology will be ready when needed by your science.

More information about the workshop will be distributed shortly via the IceDrill.News email list and via the IDPO/IDDO web site (www.icedrill.org).

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/).

During the quarter, IDDO organized and IDPO funded the Drillers' Workshop at the University of Wisconsin. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together the drillers experienced in the operation of the IDDO agile drills and the IDDO engineers to discuss needed improvements to the equipment and to share best drilling practices. The report for the workshop should be available soon. IDDO hosted its annual meeting of the TAB, consisting of members with technical experience in various types of drilling, in Madison to solicit input into technologies that can be used for ice drilling.