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Concept
Greenland ice core project
Summary
The Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) was a research project organized through the European Science Foundation (ESF). The project ran from 1989 to 1995, with drilling seasons from 1990 to 1992. In 1988, the project was accepted as an ESF-associated program, and in the summer of 1989, the fieldwork was started in Greenland.
GRIP aimed to collect and investigate 3000-meter-long ice cores drilled at the apex of the Greenland ice sheet, also known as Summit Camp. The Greenland ice sheet comprises more than 90% of the total ice sheet and glacier ice outside Antarctica.
The project was managed by a Steering Committee of the University of Bern's Physics Institute, chaired by Professor Bernhard Stauffer. Funding came from eight European nations (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), and from the European Union. Studies of nuclear isotopes and various atmospheric constituents provided by the cores allowed the team to construct detailed records of climate change. The records cover the last 100,000 years.
Mass loss of the Greenland ice sheet has been accelerating due to the effects of climate change caused by human activities. It is predicted that the sea level will rise by approximately 7 meters if all the ice melts. The mass loss of ice sheets and glaciers causes sea levels to rise, affects the decline of terrestrial albedo, and causes changes in ocean circulation. The decrease in sea ice also affects the global climate and environment; the rise in sea levels due to ice sheet glaciers’ melt would make it impossible for people to live on coastal lands. Due to the lack of ancient terrestrial sediment archives, most ice sheet history in Greenland is based on indirect records, with few direct records revealed. However, according to its little paleoclimate data, it was shown that the amount of ice sheets in Greenland has been changing significantly over time, suggesting that the change in size is due to a variety of physical environmental factors.
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