European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA)

The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) was the precursor of BE-OI, which lead to the retrieval of two ice cores from Antarctica with an age of about 800,000 years.

It consisted of three phases, all of them (partly) funded by the European Commission:

European project for ice coring in Antarctica (1996-2001)
Funded within the 4^th Framework Programme of the European Commission, Cost-sharing contract

EPICA (2001 – 2004)
Funded within the 5^th Framework Programme of the European Commission, Cost-sharing contract

EPICA-MIS (2004 – 2008)
Funded within the 6^th Framework Programme of the European Commission, Specific Targeted Research Project

Further information:
http://archives.esf.org/coordinating-research/research-networking-programmes/life-earth-and-environmental-sciences-lee/completed-esf-research-networking-programmes-in-life-earth-and-environmental-sciences/european-project-for-ice-coring-in-antarctica-epica-page-1.html