European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA)

Within the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) two
deep ice cores from the Antarctic ice sheet will be retrieved by
2005. The first one is currently being drilled at Dome Concordia (Dome
C) and have reached a depth of about 2800 metres which correspond to
about 400,000 years of climatic information. The drilling should
provide scientists with one of the longest undisturbed climate
archives, extending more than 500 ka. The second core site should be
characterised by higher accumulation rates with a dominant
contribution of precipitation from the South Atlantic Ocean (the
Atlantic signal), to make the link with climate data obtained from the
Greenland ice sheet and obtain more detailed information of the last
glacial cycle. This drilling was started in Dronning Maud Land (about
75S, 0E/W) during the 2001/02 austral summer and will continue for
another two/three field seasons. The drilling location is in one of
the least explored regions of Antarctica.

The data set at NPI is from a surface traverse and a preliminary
drilling to a depth of 160 meters at 75S 15E and includes the
following: 1) Ice cores, paleo information on temperatures,
precipitation, volcanic eruptions and nuclear tests, 2) radar profiles
of snow and firn layers, 3) field measurements, 4) GPS data, including
surface topography, ice dynamics and deformation rates within the
icemass.