The Ice Memory Foundation finished its 8th drilling operation participating in the Sentinel project expedition on the Holtedahlfonna icefield – Svalbard. The scientific project led by the Polar Science Institute of the National Research Council has AKU as one of its technical sponsors.
The Svalbard Archipelago, the Northernmost European land, is an invaluable archive that is disappearing 4 times faster than the global average. This area has experienced some of the most severe temperature increases in the last decades. According to recent studies, the temperature has risen by 4/5°C during the last 40–50 years.
The research objective is to increase scientific understanding of the roles of sea ice, bromine, and mercury in the “Arctic amplification” phenomenon. This phenomenon is due to the reduction of sea ice, increasing the absorption of solar radiation. As the sea ice melts, absorption rates increase, resulting in a positive feedback loop where the rapid pace of ocean warming further
amplifies sea ice melt. This feedback loop is largely responsible for what is known as Arctic amplification, and is the explanation for why the Arctic is warming so much more than the rest of the planet.

“Seeing these alarming situations in the Arctic, Europe and the rest of the planet, we now need the help of researchers to quickly collect samples from endangered glaciers” said Carlo Barbante, paleoclimatologist, vice president of the Ice Memory Foundation.
For Anne-Catherine Ohlmann, Director of the Ice Memory Foundation “Ice Memory is an inter-generational initiative that involves us all: scientists, philanthropists, international organisations”.

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Photo by Riccardo Selvativo.