The paper presents the first ice-core record of bromine (Br) in the Antarctic plateau. By the observation of the ice core and the application of atmospheric chemical models, we investigate the behaviour of bromine after its deposition into the snowpack, with interest in the effect of UV radiation change connected to the formation of the ozone hole, the role of volcanic deposition, and the possible use of Br to reconstruct past sea ice changes from ice core collect in the inner Antarctic plateau.

Beyond EPICA Publication # 29

in Publications

1st February 2023 - Beyond EPICA: reached a depth of 808 meters in the Antarctic ice sheet

The second drilling campaign of Beyond EPICA - Oldest Ice has been successfully completed. The international research project is funded by the European Commission with 11 million euros and coordinated by the Institute of Polar Sciences of the CNR. It aims to obtain data on the evolution of temperatures, the composition of the atmosphere and the carbon cycle, by going back in time 1.5 million years through analyzing an ice core extracted from the depths of the Antarctic ice sheet. The complex deep ice drilling system was installed quickly, kicking off drilling operations and reaching a depth of 808.47 meters by the end of this 22/23 campaign. At Concordia Station, a support team processed and cut the first 217 meters of the extracted ice core

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Day 40 - Drilling continued easily with eight runs of over 3 m each time. Towards the end of the day, we did a little experimentation with two different drill heads: neither of these two drill heads performed well today, but it is always worth a little experimentation in the pursuit of performance. Gunther took advantage of the calm conditions, between his drill shifts, to ski out to one of the GPS survey poles to recover the instrument

Day 41 - Easy drilling continues; we break through the 700 m depth mark.

Day 42 - Drilling was a little less routine today, with a torn hollow shaft filter sleeve slowing us down late morning. Romilly walks out 1000 m in the ‘clean air sector’, after her drilling shift finishes, to her surface science site where she is monitoring the development of the snow surface during the season.

Day 43 - Drilling continues with shorter runs; we invite the whole neighbourhood over for pizza. There were 29 of us in total – thirteen from Beyond EPICA, six from the French traverse, and ten from the Australian traverse that had arrived a few days earlier.

Day 45 - Drilling continued slowly while we experimented with different drill head combinations and suffered some problems with the drill motor power. By the end of the day, we had made 11.5 m in seven runs of the drill. Frustrating!

Day 47 - A day of records! Today has long been billed as the last day of drilling. With the temperatures starting to fall, the need to think about closing down the camp and winterising all the drilling and camp infrastructure is becoming more urgent. Drilling continued in the morning in a routine manner: the fourth core of the morning took us past the 800 m mark on the loggers’ depth. It was time for a final round of experimentation with the drill. The shorter 3.5 m barrel system was replaced with the 4.5 m barrel system. This time was different, with two runs of the drill producing first 3.88 m of core, and in the final drilling run of this season, a core of 4.52 m in length!

After a career of nearly 40 years, and well over 30 polar field seasons, Robert claims to have drilled the final ice core of his career today.