Science Requirements: Rapid Access Ice Drill

The IDPO led an Ice Drilling Science Community Planning Workshop in April 2011 in order to identify compelling emerging science and associated drilling needs. From that workshop, an interdisciplinary goal was articulated that spanned a wide range of science targets including understanding the Mid-Pleistocene transition from 40 kyr to 100 kyr climate cycles (by sampling ice as old as ~1.5 Ma), documenting the presence of Eemian-age ice to test models of ice sheet collapse in West Antarctica (~125 Ka), exploring the deep interior geology of Antarctica for the first time, evaluating the bed conditions at the base of the ice sheets, characterize geological features that have been imaged with geophysical data, and test models of cratonic growth related to supercontinent assembly in the Mesoproterozoic (~1 Ga). The IDPO Science Advisory Board identified in the IDPO Long Range Science Plan 2011 a need to move forward with plans to develop the Rapid Access Ice Drill. From a planning meeting organized by IDPO in October 2011 and follow-up teleconferences, discussions with the research community and with IDDO staff, the following are the science requirements for the Rapid Access Ice Drill.