The eight French, Italian and Norwegian researchers camped in Norway's Svalbard archipelago in March and April, braving storms and mishaps to preserve crucial ice records that can be used to analyse what the Earth's climate looked like in the past and chart the devastating impact human activity is having on it now.
But it is a race to preserve this"ice memory". Experts warn that as global temperatures rise, meltwater is leaking into ancient ice and risks destroying the geochemical records it contains before scientists can collect the data. Then, once they had bored a 24.5-metre hole in the ice, water from the melting glacier rushed into it.
"Seeing all that water in the glacier gave us the clearest evidence yet of the effects that dramatic climate change is having in the Arctic," said Daniele Zannoni, a member of the team from the Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. The pressure of the meltwater rushing into the Holtedalhfonna drill hole damaged two of the team's driller motors, forcing them to relocate to the summit of the Dovrebreen glacier, 13 metres higher up.
When the researchers had three ice samples, the temperature in Svalbard shot up to -3C, turning part of the route back to their base at the Ny-Alesund research station into a treacherous torrent of water.
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