Arctic Coring Expedition Gets Underway
Filed under: Discovery,Events,News & Resources,Press Releases,Scientific Ocean Drilling
The Swedish icebreaker ODEN
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program’s Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX) will collect the world’s first complete climate record from beneath the Arctic Ocean.
- When: Friday, August 6, 2004 at 11:00 a.m.
- Where: Aboard the icebreaker Oden* at Port Tromsø, Norway
- What: Complete overview of scientific and unique operational mission, followed by a tour of the ship and photo opportunities.
Polar scientists will reveal 50 million years of climate history. The Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX) aims to reach several hundreds of meters into the sediments of the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain chain at 88°N or about 250 kilometers from the North Pole, which contain millions of years of climate history.
The Arctic plays a fundamental role in determining Earth’s climate. The ACEX mission will collect core samples from this remote region that will assist in reconstructing the climatic and environmental history of the Arctic. Climate change, from hothouse to icehouse, and the timing of these changes is vigorously debated among scientists. The ACEX team will make a valuable contribution by revealing the long-term history of Arctic sea ice.No operation on this scale has ever before been attempted by scientists in such a hostile environment.
Three icebreakers will carry this team of international scientists to the Arctic Ocean. The Swedish registered Vidar Viking will serve as the coring vessel. As the Arctic weather and ice conditions can be very harsh, it is a great challenge to keep the vessel-mounted rig stationary while it retrieves cores from the seabed below. Therefore, the Swedish icebreaker Oden will simultaneously serve as a “protective shield” and operational HQ while the Russian icebreaker Sovetskiy Soyuz will be the main icebreaker forging a path through the thick Arctic ice.
The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) is an international partnership of scientists and research institutions organized to explore the history and structure of the Earth.By conducting technologically advanced ocean drilling expeditions, IODP investigates regions beneath the seafloor that are inaccessible by any other technology. Visit IODP at www.iodp.org
* Due to heightened security, please contact Andy Kingdon at aki@bgs.ac.uk or Eva Grönlund at eva@polar.se to be placed on the boarding list.
