The SUBGLACIOR drilling probe: concept and design

Abstract In response to the ‘oldest ice’ challenge initiated by the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS), new rapid-access drilling technologies through glacier ice need to be developed. These will provide the information needed to qualify potential sites on the Antarctic ice sheet where the deepest section could include ice that is >1Ma old and still in good stratigraphic order. Identifying a suitable site will be a prerequisite for deploying a multi-year deep ice-core drilling operation to elucidate the cause and mechanisms of the mid-Pleistocene transition from 40 ka glacial–interglacial cycles to 100 ka cycles. As part of the ICE&LASERS/SUBGLACIOR projects, we have designed an innovative probe, SUBGLACIOR, with the aim of perforating the ice sheet down to the bedrock in a single season and continuously measuring in situ the isotopic composition of the melted water and the methane concentration in trapped gases. Here we present the general concept of the probe, as well as the various technological solutions that we have favored so far to reach this goal.

[1]  L. Piard,et al.  A new leak-tight borehole casing at Dome Concordia station, Antarctica, for the SUBGLACIOR project , 2014, Annals of Glaciology.

[2]  V. Zagorodnov,et al.  Recoverable autonomous sonde (RECAS) for environmental exploration of Antarctic subglacial lakes: general concept , 2014, Annals of Glaciology.

[3]  J. Triest,et al.  Drill fluid selection for the SUBGLACIOR probe: a review of silicone oil as a drill fluid , 2014, Annals of Glaciology.

[4]  Daniele Romanini,et al.  Cavity Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy with Optical Feedback , 2014 .

[5]  T. Stocker,et al.  RADIX: a minimal-resources rapid-access drilling system , 2014, Annals of Glaciology.

[6]  X. Faïn,et al.  High-resolution glacial and deglacial record of atmospheric methane by continuous-flow and laser spectrometer analysis along the NEEM ice core , 2013 .

[7]  Kenji Kawamura,et al.  Where to find 1.5 million yr old ice for the IPICS "Oldest-Ice" ice core , 2013 .

[8]  Y. Fujii,et al.  Laboratory experiments and thermal calculations for the development of a next-generation glacier-ice exploration system: Development of an electro-thermal drilling device , 2008 .

[9]  O. Alemany,et al.  Viscosity and density of a two-phase drilling fluid , 2007, Annals of Glaciology.

[10]  Daniele Romanini,et al.  Fast, low-noise, mode-by-mode, cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy by diode-laser self-locking , 2005 .

[11]  M. Raymo,et al.  A Pliocene‐Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic δ18O records , 2005 .

[12]  K. Bruce.  Wotan: a drill for ice cube , 2002 .

[13]  B. Koci,et al.  A fast mechanical-access drill for polar glaciology, paleoclimatology, geology, tectonics and biology , 2002 .

[14]  E. Brook,et al.  CH4 and δ18O of O2 records from Antarctic and Greenland ice: A clue for stratigraphic disturbance in the bottom part of the Greenland Ice Core Project and the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 ice cores , 1997 .

[15]  K. Makinson.  BAS hot water drilling on Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica , 1994 .

[16]  K. Bruce.  THE AMANDA Project: Drilling precise, large-diameter holes using hot water , 1994 .

[17]  F Gillet,et al.  Climatopic Thermal Probe , 1984 .