SWAIS2C

We’ve wrapped up drilling at Crary Ice Rise with 228m of sediment core. This is an unprecedented record of the history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet stretching back millions of years. Initial observations indicate the core includes periods of environmental change during past times of warming.

We have successfully drilled 200 metres of sediment core from beneath the ice sheet at Crary Ice Rise! The pipe is still spinning - with a bit of time up our sleeve, we’re not stopping drilling yet, as we continue to drill back through the geological archive hidden beneath the ice. 📷 Ana Tovey

We’ve got our eyes on the prize 24/7, through blowing snow, lashing winds and sunshine. With more than 100 metres of sediment core retrieved, we’re more than halfway towards our target of 200 metres. Co-Chief Huw Horgan shares this expedition update from our deep-field camp at Crary Ice Rise.

A bit late in sharing, but we've successfully rotary-cored sediment under 523m of the ice sheet at Crary Ice Rise! This was a whole team effort, with special mention to our drillers and hot water crew. Watch the moment we got our first glimpse of the sediment we’ve been waiting on for so long.

We’ve hit a century! 100m of core! Our night-shift crew took us past this milestone – we’re now more than halfway towards our target. Reaching this point is testimony to the skill and hard work of our drillers, who are clocking up long runs and cores of up to 3.1m 👉https://bit.ly/4aHvt5e

Our science team are preparing for when we have our first core on deck. They’ve dug out a pit for cold storage of microbiology samples. The warm science container has been transformed into a lab, ready to X-ray cores and take sediment samples for microbiological analysis.

It’s a very Crary Christmas for our on-ice team in Antarctica!
After several weeks of weather delays preventing them getting out to our deep-field camp at Crary Ice Rise, on Christmas Eve the team received the best possible present – a Basler flight to Crary! Crary Christmas from SWAIS2C!

Drilling a 200m sediment core from the bedrock beneath 500m of Antarctic ice is a complex process, so we've broken it down step-by-step in this explainer. From melting snow in our flubbers through to filling our core barrels, what we're attempting 700km from the nearest base is no mean feat!

Hot water drilling is underway at Crary Ice Rise! The team have begun to melt a hole through the ice to make our well. They’ll melt the hole to around 100m below the ice surface, widen it to make a well cavity, and install a pump 📷 Luke Murphy / Antarctica New Zealand

First pics are in from our deep-field camp at Crary Ice Rise! To melt a hole through the 500m ice sheet we need hot water, and there’s no shortage of a crucial ingredient - snow. The team made ’seed water’ by melting snow in a small tub. They use this to melt more snow in our big flubbers.

The elusive Antarctic ice and sediment core that could answer sea level rise questions At a remote field camp, scientists and engineers are on a mission to discover when and how fast the West Antarctic could melt.

Interviews with our Co-Chief Scientists Molly Patterson and Huw Horgan feature in this excellent story by RNZ's climate correspondent Kate Newton. Have a listen and a read, to learn more about our work this season!
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

❄️ESE-led research is rewriting the history of Antarctica's ancient landscape & revealing insights about the stability of its ice sheets in a warming world.

🧊This comes as the international
@swais2c.bsky.social project (involving Imperial scientists) gets underway
www.imperial.ac.uk/news/article...

The first flight to our deep-field scientific drilling site at Crary Ice Rise has departed Ross Island. The approximately 700km journey over the Ross Ice Shelf took around 2 hrs on a Basler. On board were our hot water drillers, most of our AIDD team, and camp staff 👉https://bit.ly/3KxwJgC

Our mission for ancient climate clues beneath 500m of Antarctic ice is underway! Our drillers have arrived at our deep-field camp at Crary Ice Rise and the science team will fly out soon. Our Co-Chief Scientist Molly Patterson shares this expedition update video from Scott Base bit.ly/3KxwJgC

The on-icers are on the ice! The fourth and final group of our on-ice team have arrived in Antarctica for the season.

They’re an international bunch, coming from Germany, US, UK, and NZ.

It’s exciting to have a full SWAIS2C contingent on continent!

Here's something those travelling to Antarctica hope they won't need. If your flight 'boomerangs' and has to turn back around, you'll be reunited with your checked-in boomerang bag.We're sharing Antarctic terms and phrases so that you too can #TalklikeanAntarctican!

Antarctica Day marks the anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty, setting the foundation for international collaboration in Antarctic research. SWAIS2C brings together researchers from 10 countries, dedicated to understanding how Antarctica’s ice sheets will respond in our warming world.

The smiles say it all - they've finally made it to the ice! After an extended stay in Christchurch due to weather delays, followed by an 8hr boomerang back to Christchurch, the first of our science team have landed in Antarctica.

With our season underway we're sharing Antarctic terms and phrases so that you too can #TalklikeanAntarctican! First up is: Going south - Travelling to Antarctica. Our drillers have already arrived in Antarctica, and the first of our on-ice scientists are going south today! 🎨 @icebirdstudio

They’ve made it across the Ross Ice Shelf! Huge congrats to the Antarctica NZ traverse crew, for completing a 13-day journey to our drilling site at Crary Ice Rise. They towed sleds with fuel, equipment and supplies, to keep our deep-field camp cranking. Now it's time to set up camp!

We’re proud to be featured on these gorgeous Antarctic learning boards in Christchurch. Made by Gateway to Antarctica: Ōtautahi Christchurch to celebrate the city’s Antarctic gateway status and history of Antarctic exploration, research and international collaboration - sounds like a bit of us!

A selfie of Ryan Venturelli, a paleoglaciologist and isotope chemist from the U.S. Ryan is wearing the USAP extreme cold weather jacket, and is smiling. She is in Antarctica.

A woman in glasses and a floral sweater sits in a lab. Text reads: "I run a lab at Colorado School of Mines that turns rocks and dirt into gas so we can measure their chemistry. We use this data to study how Antarctic glaciers and ice sheets changed in the past."

A red scientific drilling rig on snow in Antarctica. Text reads "In Antarctica, I work in teams that drill holes through ice and collect mud and rocks from underneath them. The best thing about working in Antarctica is being part of a team all working toward the same mission."

A smiling woman in safety gear outdoors. Text reads: "Want to be a scientist? Keep showing up, being interested, and asking questions. The more people thinking about glaciers and ice sheets, the more we learn!

Introducing Science Team member, paleoglaciologist and isotope chemist Ryan Venturelli! SWAIS2C brings together more than 120 scientists from around 50 research organisations. Our Polar Careers outreach series features our team members, and the work they do on and off the ice👉http://bit.ly/3I7M320

Strewth! It turns out Oz isn’t the biggest continent Down Under. Here's the latest in our series of illustrations showing the sheer scale of Antarctica relative to more familiar chunks of land. 🎨Marlo Garnsworthy. More here 👉https://www.swais2c.aq/education/educational-resources/antarctica-is-big

🚨Sound the sediment siren! Since the last season at KIS3, our engineers have been busy making modifications to our drilling system, and put it to the test in rural NZ. Co-Chief Molly Patterson recorded this update while on site www.swais2c.aq/media/test-o...

Vast, massive, enormous – there’s no shortage of words to describe the size of Antarctica, but it can be hard to get your head around. Here’s how it compares vs US. Check out our Antarctica is Big series https://www.swais2c.aq/education/educational-resources/antarctica-is-big 🎨@icebird.bsky.social

Congratulations to SWAIS2C team member Natalie-Jane Reid for being awarded an Antarctica New Zealand Doctoral Scholarship to support her research on Ross Sea deep ocean currents. She will measure records in SWAIS2C sediment cores to reconstruct deep ocean current strength bit.ly/4572S4W

Groundbreaking insights about rivers beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and their role in Ross Ice Shelf melt, have been uncovered. SWAIS2C Co-Chief Scientist Huw Horgan led the team observing this water entering the ocean cavity at KIS2, on the grounding zone of the WAIS 👉https://bit.ly/44FFniV

It's SWAIS-mail time! Not a subscriber? Catch up on all the news from the project, and sign up so you don't miss out next time 👉http://bit.ly/44RL0M8
📷Anthony Powell / Antarctica New Zealand. Thanks to the KIS3 2024/25 team for the ultimate in sign-writing.

What ancient ice sheets can tell us about future sea level rise When ice gets trapped on land as giant ice sheets, it causes the sea level to change, but it doesn’t change by the same amount all around the planet.

A 100,000-year-old record of waves breaking high up on a cliff above a Cornish beach has more connection with Antarctica’s ice sheets than you might think. SWAIS2C science team member Ed Gasson explains @uk.theconversation.com bit.ly/44p6z5p

Working in ice-solation New Zealand Police

Scientists, drillers, mechanics and... Scene of Crime Officers!
Our on-ice team brought together people from a range of backgrounds, including the multi-talented Sean Heaphy - hot water driller for the field season, Senior Constable with the NZ Police back home. www.police.govt.nz/news/ten-one...