North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling NEEM ice core Eem ice cores Inland ice climate research
The North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling - NEEM - is an international ice core research project aimed at retrieving an ice core from North-West Greenland (camp position 77.45°N 51.06°W) reaching back through the previous interglacial, the Eemian. The project logistics is managed by the Centre for Ice and Climate, Denmark, and the air support is carried out by US ski equipped Hercules managed through the US Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation.
Night at NEEM
At Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute arms are still in the air after the end of the 2009 season at NEEM that turned out to be just perfect.
The layout of an ice core drilling camp
At the start of the 2008 field season, the NEEM camp consists of a single heavy-duty tent, some vehicles, and a skiway. By the end of the season, there will be numerous buildings together with trenches under the snow surface for ice core drilling and analysis. Take a look at the camp layout here.
Drilling an ice core
Drilling an ice core is not a routine job. The drill is a highly specialized tool that must be able to operate under harsh conditions. Read more about the drill and how the core is retrieved.
The history of ice core climate studies
The study of past climate using ice cores goes back to the 1950s, where US CRREL drilled the first deep ice core at Camp Century and Willi Dansgaard realized that oxygen isotope ratios in ice core ice reveal past temperatures. Read more about the history of ice core drilling and science.
