Deep-sea cores hold ice secrets

A team of scientists is heading to the Arctic to extract cores from sediments deep below the sea bed.

The team, called the Arctic Coring Expedition, will use three icebreakers as it tries to take cores from the Lomonosov Ridge between Siberia and Greenland.

The Lomonosov Ridge, 1,500 km long, rises to 800m below sea level and is topped by 450m of layered sediments.

The findings should reveal how long the Arctic sea ice, now in retreat, has existed, when and how it had formed, and what effect the Arctic Ocean has had on global climate.

From early August on, ACEX’s logbook with reports and images will be available online at www.iodp.de.