Samples of ancient ice from the nation’s highest mountain could give scientists an idea of what the climate was like thousands of years ago.
These samples were collected 327 meters deep at Mount Logan, Yukon, during an 11-day expedition in early May that fit in 35 cardboard boxes recently shipped to the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from University of Alberta, Edmonton.
According to Canadian Ice Core Laboratory director Alison Criscitiello, the important cores may be 30,000 years old, which is very rare outside the polar regions.
It’s very rare to find places like this that haven’t melted yethe explained. Lots of information trapped in this ice!.
Along with her team, Alison Criscitiello has measure tens and tens of elements […] which gives us various clues about the climate then.
In particular, they hope to find clues to the presence of forest fires, volcanic activity and temperature changes.
A difficult expedition
When Alison Criscitiello and her colleagues traveled the 5,959 -meter mountain in early May, the scientist said she experienced a real logistical nightmare.
High altitude, extreme temperatures and wind caused the conditions of the trip very difficulthe pointed out.
The helicopter carrying the supplies and equipment had to make several trips to pick it up.
Despite these conditions, Alison Criscitiello and her colleagues obtained ice cores to replace those taken in 2002, but melted when the freezer broke in 2017.
The ice in these samples obtained from a depth of 181 meters is approximately 16,000 years old.
There is information from Kashmala Fida Mohatarem
Radio Canada
Source: Radio-Canada
