Antarctica: 14 European laboratories involved in the most comprehensive climate archive of the last 1.2 million years

Fragments of rock buried for millions of years have been extracted, and the drilling borehole beneath the Antarctic ice sheet has been diverted. These are among the achievements of the latest campaign of the Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice research project, which over six years involved twelve research institutions from ten European countries. The results obtained during this recent expedition will pave the way for new scientific challenges. For the first time, by analysing the information contained within an ice core, scientists will obtain a continuous record of the Earth’s climate dating back 1.2 million years, and possibly even further.

While the final sections of ice samples have just reached Europe aboard the Italian icebreaker Laura Bassi, researchers in fourteen laboratories across ten countries are already analysing the information “recorded” in the previously delivered ice cores. In total, the ice core measures 2.8 kilometres in length and will reveal fundamental and unprecedented details about the history of the Earth’s climate and atmosphere.

Led by the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council (CNR-ISP), the international team recently deployed a team of 15 scientists and logistical staff to the Little Dome C field camp, located 35 kilometres from Concordia at an altitude of 3,200 metres above sea level. The team worked for two months during the Antarctic summer in average temperatures of –35°C. During this recent campaign, researchers gathered fragments of the rocky substrate beneath the ice, which will be analysed to determine when it was last exposed to light. This finding will be vital for accurately establishing the age of the ice sheet. Another important phase of the campaign was the technically challenging diversion of the primary drilling borehole. This operation, conducted at a depth of over two kilometres within the ice sheet, will enable future 'duplication' of samples likely originating from the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, a period during which the shift in the frequency of glacial and interglacial cycles was dramatic, changing from 40,000 to 100,000 years. The causes of this transition are still being studied by the scientific community, and data from Beyond EPICA could transform our understanding of the planet’s history, leading to unprecedented discoveries about how the climate system functions.

The Beyond EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) – Oldest Ice project has received funding from the European Commission and is supported by national partners and funding agencies in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. In Italy, alongside the CNR and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, ENEA also participated, sharing responsibility, together with the French Polar Institute (IPEV), for logistical management.

In Italy, the activities of Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice benefit from collaboration with research within the PNRA (National Antarctic Research Programme), which is funded by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR). The CNR handles scientific coordination, ENEA manages logistical planning and activities at Antarctic bases, and the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS) oversees the technical and scientific management of the icebreaker Laura Bassi.

Participants in the 2025/2026 campaign:

Barbara Seth (University of Bern, CH); Henrique Traeger (University of Bern, CH); Matthias Hüther (AWI, DE); Johannes Lemburg (AWI, DE); Gunther Lawer (AWI, DE); Katrin Ederer (AWI, DE); Mohammad Vafadarmianvelayat (AWI, DE); Iben Koldtoft (UCPH, DK); Marion Lahuec (IPEV, FR); Philippe Possenti (CNRS, FR); Gianluca Bianchi Fasani (ENEA, IT); Vincenzo Genovese (ENEA, IT); Sergio Zannini (ENEA, IT); Carlo Barbante (Ca’ Foscari University/CNR-ISP, IT); Chiara Venier (CNR-ISP, IT).

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE BEYOND EPICA – OLDEST ICE PROJECT:
https://www.beyondepica.eu/en/

Beyond EPICA Field Seasons Gallery:
https://www.beyondepica.eu/en/gallery/field-seasons/