Programme details

Under the impetus of the European Commission, Epica groups researchers and institutions from Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Great Britain and Switzerland.
The researchers analyse the Ice cap of Antarctica to learn more about the history of the climate.

EPICA Project

The EPICA project is located in Antarctica because this ice is the coldest and oldest on the planet. Secondly, because from the standpoint of the history of the climate, ice is an excellent source of records.

The Principle

The EPICA researchers drill in the Arctic ice cap to extract ice cores. Analysis of these cores gives them information about the history of the atmosphere.
At a depth of about 100 m, there are only isolated air bubbles, but they are closed. So if we extract these bubbles now and analyse them, we can observe the evolution of the concentration of gases with a greenhouse effect over time.

Objectives of the EPICA Project

The Epica project has two drilling sites: One in Dronning Maud Land, and the other one, Dome C, located on the East Antarctic plateau. The two drilling sites have different objectives.
Dronning Maud Land is located at 2892 metres above sea level, which means that this location offers the best guarantees in terms of accumulation of snow and ice.
At Dronning Maud Land, we wanted a high resolution ice core from the southern tip of the Atlantic, to study the relationship between the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere over time.
At Dome C, we want to extract the oldest ice possible. And we have succeeded, since we brought up an ice core 800,000 years old, which is twice as old as any previous ice core.

The EPICA Ice Drill

The deep ice core drill was developed by the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) and the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven (Germany).
Technically speaking, for the research team it is important for the drill to go down vertically without deviating. The scientists can verify that during the drilling process by measuring the angle with a sensor inside the drill.

Analysis of the Ice Cores

When the ice cores are brought back to the surface, they are recovered and submitted to a series of tests.
With the information, the researchers want to answer the question about knowing the relationship between the northern and southern hemispheres during natural climatic changes. Does Antarctica react first or at the same time as what is happening in the northern hemisphere?

Conclusion