After seed vault, an ice vault: First repository of mountain ice cores built, Pg2

Key Highlights:

• The first global repository of mountain ice cores was inaugurated on Wednesday to preserve Earth's atmospheric history.
• Ice cores from Mont Blanc in France and Grand Combin in Switzerland are stored in a snow cave at Concordia station, Antarctica, at -50°C.
• The Ice Memory Foundation, a consortium of European research institutes, launched the sanctuary.
• Since 2000, glaciers have lost between 2% and 39% of their ice regionally and about 5% globally.

Detailed Insights:

• Ice cores act as time capsules, preserving the history of Earth's past atmosphere in a frozen climate archive.
• The Ice Memory project, launched in 2015, aims to preserve ice cores for future study as global glaciers melt.
• The project involves research institutes from France, Italy, and Switzerland, including the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Ca' Foscari University of Venice.
• Scientists have identified and drilled ice cores at 10 glacial sites worldwide and plan to transport them to the Antarctic sanctuary.
• The goal is to establish an international convention to preserve and safeguard the ice core samples for future generations.
• Glaciers are rapidly disappearing due to rising global temperatures, leading to a loss of critical atmospheric information.

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved:

• Ice Core: A cylinder of ice drilled from a glacier or ice sheet, containing trapped air bubbles, dust, and other particles that provide a record of past climate conditions.
• Glacier: A large, persistent body of ice formed from accumulated and compacted snow that flows slowly under its own weight.
• Global Warming: A long-term increase in Earth's average surface temperature due to the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.