Analytical Models for Determining Ice Core Temperatures

The Polar Ice Coring Office (PICO), operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the National Science Foundation, is charged with the development and operation of ice coring drills and augers for scientific research. It is believed that ice cores recovered by these devices from Greenland and Antarctica will provide continuous environmental record of the past several centuries. Scientists are currently analyzing different aspects of the core and the gases trapped in the frozen ice to determine what global climatic conditions were in the past. Recovering these cores from great depths in ice sheets without damage and contamination is the primary objective of PICO.