21 July 2011 Day 24: NEEM!

Journal

Today's student commentary

Submitted by Avaruna Mathaessun (Greenland)

Avaruna at NEEM, author of today's commentary (Photo by Laura Lukes, 2011)

JSEP folks at NEEM (Photo by Laura Lukes, 2011)

Looking down the drill shaft — Emil looking down the drill shaft as Hans Christian explains the drilling process and future of the site(Photo by Laura Lukes, 2011)

Kurt holds up 150,000 year old ice from the bedrock. Photo by Laura Lukes, 2011.

At the snow pit (Photo by Laura Lukes, 2011)

Sylvia drives us back to the main building (Photo by Laura Lukes, 2011)

Today's teacher commentary

Submitted by Shelly Hynes (USA)

Last day on the ice unfortunately! We headed to NEEM today, the North Greeland Eemian Ice Drilling site for a tour of their facilities. Students were excited to finally see an ice core. Remember, ice cores are the key component to determining what carbon dioxide levels were in the past and its the way we know that current carbon dioxide levels are on the rise.

When we arrived station personnel had a snowmobile and two sleds waiting for us! We hopped onto the sleds and headed to the Dome, the main structure of the site. After introductions we toured the ice core drilling site where we were some of the first "outsiders" to view ice cores near the bottom of the ice sheet....2.5km from the surface! These cores are particularly interesting because they contain rock and organic material, so they are of interest to geologists and biologists as well as climate scientists.

After heading to a site where Japanese researchers were working it was time to hop back on the plane and head back to Kangerlussuaq. Although our visit was brief, it was very enjoyable and particularly educational. Thanks to all the personnel at NEEM who made our visit a success