Ice cores point to rapid climate change

Scientists drilling ice cores in Greenland have recovered what appear to be plant remains from nearly 3 km below the surface of the ice.

Team members said reddish clumps of material, found in the muddy ice in the cores, contain what look like pine needles or blades of grass.

These finds could be the first organic material to be recovered from a deep ice core drilling project. Scientists think the material could be many millions of years old.

The plant material was recovered between the ice sheet and the bedrock at a drilling site in central Greenland, by a team with the North Greenland Ice Core Project.

The presence of plant material suggest the Greenland ice sheet formed very fast.

Meanwhile, 200 researchers left Norway this week for the North Pole to study the geological history of the Arctic Ocean and shed light on climate change.

Organized by the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling, the Arctic Coring Expedition is the first attempt to bore through the Arctic Ocean bed.

By examining sediment recovered from beneath the sea floor, scientists hope to see why the climate changed from greenhouse to ice-age conditions.

Drilling will be concentrated on the Lomonosov Ridge, an area 250 kilometres from the North Pole.

The sedimentary rock on the underwater Lomonosov Ridge was created by the shells of tiny plankton. By analyzing the chemical makeup of the fossils, scientists can see what the temperature was like at the time.

“What we are learning from other drilling sites is that there have been rapid changes in climate in the past,” said Professor Kate Moran of the University of Rhode Island. “We are going to be able to understand how rapidly these changes occur. If we understand that, we can begin to understand how it could be used to help policy-makers decide what to do.”