Science Programme Coordinator
Earth’s Oldest Ice
Beyond Epica-Oldest Ice
- Start date:
- 1 October, 2016
- End date:
- 30 September, 2026
What Beyond EPICA is doing
Beyond EPICA – oldest ice is a project funded by the European Union involving 12 scientific institutions across 10 European countries. Its goal is to drill the oldest ice that can be reached in Antarctica.
It builds on the earlier EPICA project. EPICA drilled at Dome C and revealed 800,000 years of climate history. Beyond EPICA looks for even older ice – up to 1.5 million years. This ice can show how greenhouse gases and climate cycles worked long ago.
Drilling commenced in 2021. Scientists used computer models to find good drilling sites. They then checked these sites in the field. They measured how thick the ice was, how old it was at different depths, and whether the base of the ice was melting.
At sites near Dome C, BAS scientists used a rapid access isotope drill (RAID) to collect ice cores whilst preserving their chemical fingerprints. Radar systems called ApRES and DELORES were also used. These helped to map how the ice was moving and guide where to drill.
The project has had much success. By the start of 2026, 2.8 kilometers of continuous ice core had been sampled. This provided climate data going back 1.2 million years, possibly even further.
The last ice core samples from the Dome C sites arrived in Europe in April 2026. Scientists continue working together in labs across 10 European countries to analyse the climate data locked within the ice.
Why this matters
Earth’s climate cycles changed in the past. Ice ages once came every 41,000 years, but later switched to every 100,000 years.
By studying older ice, scientists can learn why this change happened. They can also see how greenhouse gases influenced the start and end of ice ages.
This new record has already helped improve climate models. It will help predict future climate change. And it will explain how ice age cycles shifted over millions of years.
How the project worked
- Rapid access ice drilling: RAID collected shallow cores. These showed the age of the ice and past temperatures.
- Radar surveys: ApRES and DELORES measured ice movement, the base of the ice sheet, and layers inside the ice.
- Site selection: Field checks confirmed which sites are best. Only then did scientists drill for the oldest ice.
- Four seasons of ice core drilling to reach the bedrock at 2,800m depth and participated in the deep drilling to bedrock.
- Analysis of the ice core at laboratories across Europe.
Science objectives
The project aimed to:
- Extend the ice core record to 1.5 million years
- Study past greenhouse gas levels and climate changes
- Understand the shift from 41,000-year to 100,000-year ice age cycles
- Improve climate models and forecasts
Who was involved
The project was run by a European team and funded by the European Union. It was a big collaboration, and involved 12 scientific institutions, including BAS. As experts in polar operations and ice core analysis, BAS provided skills in fieldwork, drilling, radar, and gas analysis of the ice cores.
BAS ice core experts, including Robert Mulvaney, lead site surveys and drilling with RAID.
BE-OI Objectives
To better constrain the response of Earth’s climate system to continuing emissions, it is essential to turn to the past.
A key advance would be to understand the transition in Earth’s climate response to changes in orbital forcing during the ‘mid-Pleistocene transition’ (900 to 1200 thousand years ago) and in particular the role of greenhouse gases.
Unravelling such key linkages between the carbon cycle, ice sheets, atmosphere and ocean behaviour is vital for society to better design effective mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Only ice cores contain the unique and quantitative information about past climate forcing and atmospheric responses. But the ice providing essential evidence about past mechanisms of climate change more than 1 Ma ago required for our understanding of these changes (termed the “Oldest Ice” core), has not been found to date.
The consortium Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice (BE-OI), formed by 14 European institutions, takes on this challenge to prepare the ground for obtaining 1.5 million year old ice from East Antarctica.
BE-OI had the objectives to:
- support the site selection through acquisition and synthesis of all necessary information on Antarctic sites through specific geophysical surveys and the use of fast drilling tools to qualify sites and validate the age of their ice;
- select and evaluate the optimum drill site for the future “Oldest Ice” core project and establish a science and management plan for a future drilling;
- coordinate the technical and scientific planning to ensure the availability of the technical means to implement suitable drill systems and analytical methodologies for a future ice-core drilling, and of well-trained personnel to operate them successfully;
- establish the budget and the financial background for a future deep-drilling campaign;
- embed the scientific aims of an “Oldest Ice” core project within the wider paleoclimate data and modelling communities through international and cross-disciplinary cooperation.
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Ice Stream Modelling
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