News

2011 Summer Quarterly Update of IDPO and IDDO Activities Now Available

The Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) announces that the 2011 summer quarterly update of IDPO and Ice Drilling Design and Operations (IDDO) activities is available at:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

Topics include:
- Overview of IDPO and IDDO Activities During the Quarter
- Highlight: Multidisciplinary Science on the Greenland Ice Sheet is Enabled by Agile Ice Core Drills
- Highlight: Interdisciplinary Community Workshop Examines the Future for Ice Coring and Drilling
- Education and Outreach: Outreach Support for U.S. Scientists
- IDDO Career Opportunity: Mechanical Engineer(s) Needed!
- IPICS 2012 Open Science Conference
- Long Range Science Plan 2011-2021 and Long Range Drilling Technology Plan
- 2011 Technical Advisory Board Meeting
- Requesting Ice Drilling Support

To download the newsletter, please go to:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

IPICS First Open Science Conference :: 1-5 October 2012, Giens, France

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 Côte 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. The four IPICS white papers will structure the conference programme. Gathering mostly ice core scientists, the conference expects to also attract researchers working on other paleoclimate archives as well as paleoclimate modelers and glaciologists.

For more information, please visit the conference web site at:
http://www.ipics2012.org/

2011 Spring Quarterly Update of IDPO and IDDO Activities Now Available

The Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) announces that the 2011 spring quarterly update of IDPO and Ice Drilling Design and Operations (IDDO) activities is available at:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

Topics include:
- Overview of IDPO and IDDO Activities During the Quarter
- Highlight: Deepest U.S. Ice Core Drilled in West Antarctica
- Highlight: New Drilling Technology Enables Study of Ancient Atmospheres
- Highlight: Unique Ice Drilling Technology Developed for Increased Sampling of Key Events
- 2011 Long Range Science Plan :: Request for Community Input/Comments
- Science Planning Workshop Review
- Drilling Support to Arctic Field Projects
- Requesting Ice Drilling Support

To download the newsletter, please go to:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

Deadlines for Ice Drilling Science Community Planning Workshop and Requesting Ice Drilling Support for NSF Antarctic Proposals

Several important deadlines are approaching that we want to bring to your attention:
1. Ice Drilling Science Community Planning Workshop hotel and registration deadlines
2. 2011 Antarctic Research Solicitation (11-532) deadline for requesting ice drilling support

1. Ice Drilling Science Community Planning Workshop hotel and registration deadlines
As a reminder, the Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) is sponsoring 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 many frontiers. The workshop will be held at the Washington Dulles Marriott Suites Hotel in Herndon, VA, on April 15 and 16. All are invited to participate.

If you have an interest in attending the workshop and haven't registered and/or reserved a hotel room yet you need to do so quickly. The cut-off date for accepting hotel reservations into the workshop's room block is at 12:00 noon on April 1. The deadline for registering for the workshop is April 7.

Please make sure and register for the workshop even if you are from the area and will not be staying in a hotel so that we have a head count for the meeting room setup and lunch.

For more information about the workshop, please visit:
http://www.icedrill.org/science-planning-workshop-2011/

2. 2011 Antarctic Research Solicitation (11-532) deadline for Requesting Ice Drilling Support
The 2011 Antarctic Research Solicitation (11-532) deadline is June 6, 2011. As a reminder, if your proposal requires any kind of ice drilling or ice coring support from the Ice Drilling Design and Operations (IDDO) group at the University of Wisconsin you must contact icedrill@dartmouth.edu at least 6 weeks prior to the Antarctic Research Solicitation (11-532) deadline, in this case by April 25.

For more information about requesting ice drilling support, please visit
https://icedrill.org/scientists/scientists.shtml .

Ice Drilling Program Office Launches New Education-Focused Website

The Ice Drilling Program Office is announcing the launch of its new education-focused website, http://climate-expeditions.org. The site offers ice core-related lesson plans and resources for middle and high school classrooms, career profiles and links to universities with glaciology research centers for students, and informational articles, reliable resources and multi-media for the public.

If you are a scientist associated with IDPO, there are opportunities for leveraging your university or project's education and outreach efforts through this umbrella site. Please consider linking your education page to our home page, submitting articles published for general audiences that represent your research, being featured in a career profile, and/or sharing video clips, photos or other resources you'd like to see gain a wider audience through IDPO outreach efforts nationally. For feedback and questions, please contact Linda Morris at Linda.m.morris@dartmouth.edu.

Ice Drilling Science Community Planning Workshop - April 15 & 16, 2011

Scientific discoveries achieved from, 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 Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) will sponsor 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 many frontiers. This workshop will be held at the Washington Dulles Marriott Suites Hotel in Herndon, VA, on April 15 and 16. All are invited to participate.

** Please register for the meeting at http://icedrill.org/science-planning-workshop-2011/registration.shtml . For the latest information about the workshop, please visit the workshop's website at: http://icedrill.org/science-planning-workshop-2011/ .

Background Information: The current IDPO Long Range Science Plan for the ice coring and drilling community is available for download on https://icedrill.org; we update the plan every year in June. This plan drives the associated Long Range Drilling Technology Plan, available on the same site. Both plans drive the budget and our proposals for developing and maintaining ice coring and drilling technology for the research community. As explained in our recent EOS article (Albert et al, EOS Trans AGU, vol 91(39), 2010, p. 345-346), we encourage scientists to work with IDPO to forecast your science plans over the next decade -- this enables IDPO to really get the ball rolling on the ice drilling technology that will be needed to achieve your goals. 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. We hope that you and your colleagues will join us in this planning.

2010-11 Winter Quarterly Update of IDPO and IDDO Activities Now Available

The Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) announces that the 2010-11 winter quarterly update of IDPO and Ice Drilling Design and Operations (IDDO) activities is available at:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

Topics include:
- Upcoming IDPO Science Planning Workshop
- Review of Drilling Support to Science Projects
- Intermediate Drill
- DISC Drill
- Replicate Coring System
- Educational Outreach
- Requesting Ice Drilling Support

To download the newsletter, please go to:
https://icedrill.org/icebits

3,330 Meters Is Reached at WAIS Divide

Dear WAIS Divide Enthusiast -

We are ELATED to pass along the fantastic news that the WAIS Divide Ice Core project has reached its goal this year of drilling 3,330 meters into the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. We just received notice from the camp that this goal was achieved at 12:24 PM on January 28, 2011, local time (6:24 PM, January 27, 2011, EST), with a final borehole depth of 3,329.956 meters. This is the second deepest ice core ever collected and could not have been achieved without the resources, dedication, commitment, perseverance and comradely of hundreds of people.

We at the WAIS Divide Science Coordination Office, on behalf of the science community, want to sincerely thank everyone for their help and support in recovering this monumental ice core. Without you, we wouldn't be at this point today. Please join us now in a toast celebrating this historic accomplishment!

Cheers,

Ken Taylor - Chief Scientist (and currently at WAIS Divide)
Mark Twickler
Joe Souney

Upcoming PolarConnect Live Events from WAIS Divide!

Heidi Roop will be hosting a live event from WAIS Divide to the States this Thursday Dec. 16th. Heidi will also host two other live events throughout the WAIS Divide drill season. This first event will focus on basic ice core science. People can phone in and watch a presentation live from the internet. The whole event will probably last about an hour. Last year, over 400 people joined the call to listen and ask questions. Please spread the word to anyone you think might be interested.

To register for the event and to receive instructions on how to join, go to:
http://www.polartrec.com/polar-connect/register

For those who will be at AGU, it will be run as a full session at the Marriott Hotel, Sierra Room K. Stop by and watch the presentation on a big screen!

If you can't make it to the call and are interested in the presentation, it will be archived on the PolarTREC website.

EVENT 1: Ice Core Science 101
PolarConnect Event with Heidi Roop and the Ice Core Drilling in West Antarctica 2010 Expedition
DATE: Thursday, 16 December 2010 TIME: 11:15 AM AST (12:15 PM PST, 1:15 PM MST, 2:15 PM CST, 3:15 PM EST) Note: We will be broadcasting this event live from the San Francisco Marriott, Sierra Room K at the American Geophysical Union Meeting in San Francisco, California.

EVENT 2: Life on an Ice Sheet- what is it like to live in the deep field in Antarctica?
PolarConnect Event with Heidi Roop and the Ice Core Drilling in West Antarctica 2010 Expedition
DATE: Friday, 7 January 2011 TIME: 9:00 AM AST (10:00 AM PST, 11:00 AM MST, 12:00 PM CST, 1:00 PM EST)

EVENT 3: Reaching Our Icy Goals: a summary of the last main drill season at WAIS Divide
PolarConnect Event with Heidi Roop and the Ice Core Drilling in West Antarctica 2010 Expedition
DATE: Friday, 21 January 2011 TIME: 9:00 AM AST (10:00 AM PST, 11:00 AM MST, 12:00 PM CST, 1:00 PM EST)

Intermediate Drill Science Requirements

The IDPO Science Advisory Board identified in the IDPO Long Range Science Plan a priority need to acquire an intermediate-depth drill for the U.S. ice coring program that is sufficiently portable that it can be used for coring at a wide variety of sites with production drilling in two field seasons or less, and be able to retrieve core from depths of interest for a variety of science goals. From discussions with the research community and discussions with IDDO staff, IDPO proposes the attached science requirements for community comment or agreement.

Please look over the attached, and let us know whether you are in agreement with these requirements, and/or have any comments.

The draft science requirements can also be downloaded at:
https://icedrill.org/scientists/scientists.shtml#scienceplan

Please send an email with your comments to IceDrill@Dartmouth.edu. Comments received before Dec 22 will be most helpful, but we welcome comments at any time.

We are planning to have IDDO produce a plan for drill development and cost that will be ready by mid-spring.