The secrets of climate change under the Antarctic ice sheet, study part:“It can help us learn about the future of the planet”

On November 16th, a team of scholars from New Zealand will reach Antarctica for a pilot study that seeks answers about the future of the planet by studying the past

ROME – Scientists know the Moon better than Antarctica.It seems incredible, but it's exactly like that.Since the first moon landing in 1969, over 2,400 samples of rocks and minerals have been collected by astronauts from various lunar sites.Instead, of the Antarctic bedrock, researchers and scientists have only managed to collect so far few geological samples coming from 13 locations.Yet, important answers on the dynamics of climate change and the future of the planet could come from the secrets of the depths of the ice of Antarctica.This is why a new international shipment, the SWAIS2C project which for Italy sees the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) at the forefront, is leaving to study the rocky base beneath the Antarctic ice cap.And to understand - this is the final objective - whether the Ross ice shelf and the West Antarctic ice sheet will melt following the predicted increase in global average temperature of +2°C, compared to to that of the pre-industrial era.

HOW THE STUDY ON THE ROCKS WILL BE CARRIED OUT

To investigate this, the researchers (who will work together with drilling technicians) will carry out some drilling to 200 meters below the seabed to recover some sediment cores which retain traces of the environmental changes in which they were formed.It's about sedimentary rocks which will be taken from areas close to the center of West Antarctica and which they were formed in warmer times of the current ones.They therefore represent gods geological records which they contain key environmental information to understand what awaits us now that the planet's temperature is increasing. Study the past to understand the future.And start from these rocks, which were formed in an era as hot as or more than ours, to understand what could happen.

OCEAN WARMING

Among the questions that scholars seek answers to, there is what they would like to understand how much ocean warming influences the melting of the western ice cap (the mechanisms of which still remain little studied).But also how the Antarctic ice sheet will behave compared to the increase in temperature of the planet.If it will melt and how, if there are parts that could melt before and others later.There are some sectors of this region, the scholars explain, which "seem extremely vulnerable to fluctuations in ocean temperatures".Many questions still remain about the climatic conditions that cause the "contraction of the imposing coastal ice shelves that stabilize the glacial flows behind the continent".

A NEW DRILLING TECHNIQUE

An in-depth study of these sedimentary rocks found on the seabed under the Antarctic ice cap has not been done until now.And this was because it had been almost impossible to recover them.The new shipment, however, will use an experimental technology which, if successful, could be used to do similar studies in other parts of the earth.Scholars will try to drill through 590 meters of ice of the Ross platform using a hot water probe specially designed and with a diameter of 35 centimetres.With this, they will arrive at the marine environment below, 50 meters deep and "very close to the point where the profile of the ice shelf stops leaning on the seabed and starts to float" says Richard Levy, one of the scientific coordinators of the SWAIS2C project.
“At this point, we will lower a special sediment drilling system consisting of a drill rod equipped with a diamond head for the purpose of recovery a rock core sedimentary elements of that area of ​​the seafloor,” says Darcy Mandeno, the director of drilling operations at SWAIS2C.

THE NAME OF THE PROJECT

The team of researchers and drilling technicians will leave Christchurch (New Zealand) on November 16th for Antarctica.The international project called SWAIS2C, acronym for Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to Two Degrees of Warming (in Italian: Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to Two Degree Warming), is aimed at determining whether the Ross Ice Shelf and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will melt following the predicted increase in global average temperatures of +2°C compared to the pre-industrial era.
“Although the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement is to keep global warming to +2°C, we do not yet know whether the WAIS will lose most of its ice even with just 1, 2 or 3 degrees more, with resulting in several meters of rise in mean sea level,” says Tina van de Flierdt, another scientific coordinator of the SWAIS2C project.

IT DEPARTS IN NOVEMBER FROM THE KAMB GLACIER

Field operations in Antarctica will begin in November 2023 at the Kamb glacier and will continue throughout 2024.A second drilling campaign will begin in NNovember 2024 in a region of the Ross Shelf called the “Crary Ice Rise” and will be coordinated by Molly Patterson and Huw Horgan.

THE RESEARCH GROUP

The SWAIS2C project team is composed of more than 120 people including 25 young researchers from 35 research institutions belonging to the following nations:New Zealand, United States, Germany, Austria, Italy, Japan, Spain, Republic of Korea, Netherlands and United Kingdom.
For Italy, Ingv (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology) plays a significant and leadership role in the SWAIS2C project, operating as a "Contributing Party" with a significant presence both in the Science Team and in communication, education and public dissemination activities.Researchers from various Italian universities and research institutions are also participating in the project, including the University of Siena, the University of Genoa, the University of Trieste and the OGS (National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics).

THE COSTS

The overall cost of the project is estimated at $5.4 million.The most significant funding has been provided by several entities, including the Natural Environment Research Council, the Alfred-Wegener-Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, the National Science Foundation (NSF- 2035029, 2034719, 2034883, 2034990, 2035035 and 2035138), the German Research Foundation (with grants KU 4292/1-1, MU 3670/3-1 and KL 3314/4-1), the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, the Korea Polar Research Institute, the National Institute of Polar Research, the Antarctic Science Platform (ANTA1801), the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, AuScope and the Australian and New Zealand IODP Consortium.SWAIS2C is the first scientific project of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Project (ICDP) carried out in Antarctica and is the continuation of other international drilling projects in Antarctica such as Cape Roberts and ANDRILL, in which Italy, with the contribution of the PNRA, had already participated with funding and researchers.
Logistics support is provided by Antarctica New Zealand (K862A-2324, K862A-2425) in collaboration with the United States Antarctic Program.

A PILOT STUDY

The SWAIS2C project has been defined as "the discovery of our times" and hopes that the results will be useful for developing adaptation strategies to the inevitable rise in mean sea levels, while simultaneously contributing to efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our approach to coring is innovative and not without risks, but it is the only way we have to obtain such important samples. If we are successful and can demonstrate that this new technology works, it will open up new opportunities to obtain more geological records witness environmental changes and ice sheet dynamics in other remote regions of the Antarctic continent,” says Richard Levy.
“Obtaining samples from these very remote regions of Antarctica will also allow us to better understand how the ice sheet will respond to future warming, which portions will melt first and which will remain intact.We will use the past to better understand our future.This knowledge is essential as humanity already grapples with the inevitable challenge of rising mean sea levels,” says Tina van de Flierdt.
“Everything we will collect and discover on this journey will be new to humanity and certainly important for understanding future average sea level rise,” says Richard Levy.