Environmental Research

 

18th June 2009 - Ice Core Drilling Begins in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park Ice cores are drilled in the polar regions or high mountain areas by scientists who want to learn more about the Earth’s climate.  These records show that climate change does not happen at the same time, or to the same degree, in the Arctic and Antarctica. GNS Science and Victoria University Wellington are attempting to retrieve the best possible ice cores from the Southern Alps.  This research began in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park in May with a ground penetrating radar (GPR) being used to assess different locations for their suitability.  This week Mount Cook Ski Planes flew the team of 5 scientists high up on to the Sealy Range, the Annette Plateau, along with a B3 Squirrel helicopter sling load and 2 PC6 Pilatus Porter Ski Planes full of gear, to begin their drilling operation.  The scientists including Dr Uwe Morgenstern and Julian Thomson who were here drilling up on the Tasman Glacier in 2004 hope to make the most of the fine weather window by camping up on the Plateau for the next week. In spite of the harsh conditions, winter is the best time of year to drill to avoid the ice melting as it comes out of the glacier. The drill is powered by a generator and has a hollow barrel which cuts down through the ice.  After about one metre has been drilled, the section is pulled up using a winch and the core is removed from the barrel, then bagged, labeled and stored in an insulated box.  Ideally in this way a complete sequence of cores is obtained all the way through the ice to the bedrock.  The core sections are then flown by Mount Cook Ski Planes down to the village where they are kept at sub zero temperatures in the freezers of the Hermitage Hotel.  From there they are transported to the NZ Ice Core Research Laboratory in  Lower Hutt for processing and analysis. For further information about NZ Ice Core Research go to: www.gns.cri.nz/iceandsnow/

Thank you to Wayne McMillan and Ross Anderson for these great photos!

B3 Squirrel Helicopter lifting Research Equipment.	View of Aoraki/Mount Cook From Annette Plateau.
The Research Team; Yulan Xhang, Xinsheng Gao, Julian Thomson, Uwe Morgenstern and Daniel Dixon.	Two Pilatus Porter Ski Planes, Annette Plateau.  Aerial view of the drilling site, Annette Plateau.