Thermal Sidewall Ice Corer (TSIC) to recover samples from boreholes drilled in glaciers and ice sheets

The proposed Thermal Sidewall Ice Corer (TSIC) is designed to accurately sample horizontal ice layers of scientific interest, such as tephra layers, basal ice and shear zones, and retrieve ice cores back to the surface. The system features a bending core barrel with a thermal coring head, which bends as it extends from the drill body, enabling it to penetrate horizontal interlayers while maintaining a horizontal position until the ice core is extracted. The bending core barrel is driven by screw pairs, powered by a motor, to apply drilling load and pulling force. As the barrel bends, the ice cores are broken inside and transported to the surface along with the drill via a winch. A camera system has been incorporated into the TSIC to precisely locate the target layer. The corer is suitable for ice boreholes with diameters ranging from 135 to 170 mm, capable of retrieving ice cores with a diameter of 20–30 mm, and achieving a maximum penetration rate of 2 m h−1. The maximum length of ice samples that can be retrieved in a single drilling run is 500 mm. The coring performance for horizontal sampling has been validated through the development and testing of a prototype in the laboratory.