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Environment

Aged Ice

Over the last two million years, most of Canada has been covered and uncovered by glaciers. Now these glacial ice cores reside in a state-of-the-art lab at the U of A

By Mifi Purvis, '93 BA

August 08, 2016 •

We Found Life

Until the 2000s, it seemed impossible that anything could be alive deep inside glacial ice. But researchers believe they have found microbial organisms that can put themselves into stasis and still photosynthesize in ice, relying on light so limited and diffuse that humans can't see it.

Layered Lesson

The ice helps us see changes in climate over time. As summer meltwater gathers on the surface of a glacier, the water filters through the porous snow and freezes, forming distinct layers of ice among layers of compacted snow. Scientists will compare the ancient U of A ice cores to newer samples. At shallower depths, these ice layers are thicker, meaning recent summer temperatures have been warmer for longer than in the past.

Layers 80,000 Years Old

Totalling more than 1.7 kilometres in length, the glacial ice cores are long, cylindrical ice samples that were drilled in Nunavut and Yukon territories between 1970 and 2005, collected by Natural Resources Canada and stored in Ottawa. The oldest layers were deposited 80,000 years ago.

The Frozen Grail

Glaciologists hope to someday recover million-year-old ice from Antarctica.

Secrets From the Past

The team's research from the ice cores will put the university at the heart of an emerging field, revealing secrets about the history of our climate and atmosphere.

A History of Fire

Researchers can use the ice to tell when volcanoes erupted. Because the acidity of ice is higher in layers that accumulated when there were active volcanoes, researchers can match these layers to known historical eruptions and date the ice cores more accurately.

Dirt From Abroad

Ice cores pinpoint the history of pollutants. Contaminants that once circulated in the atmosphere have condensed onto alpine glaciers, and as the ice melts, they run into our waterways. Sharp's team might might be able to determine whether some of Alberta's water pollution originates in Asian factories, rather than local industry.

Ice That Keeps on Giving

Because the ice is a diminishing resource, the data sets derived will be digitized and available to researchers for decades.

Smaller is Better

New technology allows researchers to use smaller samples at finer resolutions so they can unlock more secrets from the ice.

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