Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 10:48
Forums
Ice Core Drilling in West Antarctica

Hi from the Mound Valley 8th grade. We have a question. How long does the procedure take for the drilling to be complete.

Mason, Ashley, Dallas, Caitlin.

Wed, 11/18/2009 - 23:41

Heidi Roop

Hello Mound Valley,
This is Peter Neff, one of Heidi's fellow ice core handlers on the WAIS Divide project!
Our project is in its 3rd year of drilling. We only get about 2 good months per year for drilling in Antarctica, because of the long, cold winters and all of the setup and takedown time each season. The first year of our project we drilled about 500 meters deep. Think of the Empire State Buliding in New York City--it's almost 500 meters tall! The upper layers of the ice sheet can be drilled without fluid to lubricate the drill as it chops through mostly snow. At about 100 meters deep the snow looks a lot more like ice because it's been squished by all the heavy snow on top of it. We had to stop at 500 meters because the ice was too hard to cut through without something to lubricate the drill!
The second year, we drilled about 1000 meters, putting us at 1500 meters deep right now. We plan to drill another 1000 meters or so this year, our third. This will leave us at about 2500 meters deep when we all go home in February. Hopefully it will only take us one more year to reach the bottom of the ice sheet (we actually stop just before the bottom, because we don't want to hit the mud and dirt down there!). The bottom is 3500 meters deep---that's the same as the height of about SEVEN Empire State Buildings!! 
After we finish drilling the main core, we will go back and drill the bottom of the ice core borehole again! How do we do that, you ask? We actually adjust the drill to go ever so slightly sideways, and can drill at an angle away from the main hole. That way we get twice the ice to look at for parts we're really interested in! 
I think that answers your question and then some! I sometimes get so excited about our science project I can't keep all the details to myself!
 Thanks to Mason, Ashley, Dallas, Caitlin for your question.
 -Peter