Prestigious science prize awarded for 800,000 year old ice core (3/17/2008)

Shallow ice core drilling at Dome C. The core will be used to study the climate fo the last 2000 years.

Ice core scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) are joint winners of a major European science prize. The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) - which retrieved two deep ice cores that have revealed how Earth's climate behaved over the last 800,000 years - is one of three projects to be awarded the 2007 Descartes Prize for excellence in collaborative research. Three winning trans-national research teams share this year's Descartes Prize of 1.36 million Euros. The prize is awarded annually to teams which have achieved outstanding scientific or technological results through collaborative research in any field of science.

The EPICA project brought together scientists and engineers from 10 European countries in a 10-year effort in one of the most hostile research environments on Earth. They drilled ice cores right through the Antarctic ice sheet at two locations, reaching bedrock at over 3200 metres depth in one case. The records of climate and atmospheric composition preserved in the ice have provided unique information about how climate works.

The research team has published its findings in nearly 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers, including several in the leading journals Nature and Science. Their data are widely quoted in many influential publications including the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

Dr. Eric Wolff from the British Antarctic Survey, and the chair of the EPICA science group said:

"EPICA is an example of a successful European cooperation that made ground-breaking discoveries that could not have been achieved by working separately. The ice core research has shown us how our climate works, and therefore helps us to predict how it will work in the future. It is an honour for all of us to have this effort recognised by the Descartes Prize."

The Prize will be awarded at a The European Science Awards 2007, Celebrating Excellence in European Research, in Brussels on Wednesday 12th March.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the British Antarctic Survey

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