The Epica-dml Deep Ice Core ― A Visual Record

The line-scan images collected in this book represent the most accurate optical record of Antarctic ice cores ever presented, providing an invaluable resource for glaciologists and climate modellers, as well as a fascinating compilation of ice core images for Antarctica enthusiasts.

Global warming and the Earth’s past climate are the two main reasons for extracting deep ice cores from Antarctica. Indeed, dust particles, aerosols and other climatic traces deposited on the snow surface, as well as the air trapped in bubbles by compacted snow, produce chronologically ordered strata, making the ice from Antarctica the most accurate and valuable archive of the Earth’s climate over the last million years. In addition, the layered structure produced by these strata, when revealed by appropriate methods, provides indispensable information concerning the flow and mechanical stability of the Antarctic ice sheet, allowing us to assess the current and future impact of global warming on the melting of polar ice caps with much greater precision.

Sergio Henrique Faria is Ikerbasque Research Professor at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Spain. He is also Adjoint Presidential Professor at the Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan, and Associate Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Glaciology, as well as Editorial Board Member of several journals in the fields of physics, mathematics, Earth and planetary sciences. Physicist by training and transdisciplinary scientist by conviction, Sergio Henrique is mainly interested in the emergent multiscale phenomena that control the properties and dynamics of complex natural systems. He participated in the two last EPICA-DML deep-ice-core drilling expeditions to Antarctica (2003-04 and 2005-06).

Sepp Kipfstuhl is Senior Scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Germany. A key personality of European glaciology for more than 30 years, Sepp has participated in countless polar expeditions, including the First West-German Antarctic Research Overwintering at Georg von Neumeyer Station (1981--83) and all European deep-ice-core drilling projects in Greenland and Antarctica since GRIP (Greenland Ice-core Project) in the early 1990s. His scientific expertise covers virtually all aspects of ice-core research, with a special interest in the physical properties of ice and firn.

Anja Lambrecht was Scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) between 2000 and 2005. She has participated in several polar expeditions to Antarctica, including the 21. German Antarctic Research Overwintering at Neumayer Station II (2000-2002). Currently she works in seismic processing and field QC for reflection seismic measurements. Anja is mainly interested in Geo-Information Systems to network data from different disciplines.