European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA), the successful European cooperation project between ten countries, continued with the drilling of two ice cores from the Antarctic ice sheet.
Ice cores provide unique information of past environmental and climatic variations. During the 2002/03 season the drilling at Dome C reached down to a depth of 3 200 meters. The preliminary dating showed that the ice is about 800,000 years old at this depth. Samples from the ice core were prepared in the field and sent home for analysis in different laboratories across Europe.
In the 2002/03 season the drilling at Kohnen Station in Dronning Maud Land reached down to 1 550 meters, and the drilling continued this season. The goal was to reach bedrock at 2 750 meters depth. The Swedish participant at Kohnen Station was Kerstin Hörnby from Stockholm University.
Principal investigator
Margareta Hansson
Stockholms University