1- 1Australian Antarctic Division, Australia (joel.pedro@aad.gov.au)
- *A full list of authors appears at the end of the abstract
The Million Year Ice Core (MYIC) Project is an Australian Antarctic Program initiative to recover a continuous ice core spanning the mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; 700–1,250kyr). MYIC pilot drilling and borehole reaming for casing installation started in the 2024/25 austral summer at Dome C North (DCN, 75.04220S, 123.63120E, ice depth of 3064 m). DCN is 9 km NE of Concordia Station and 45 km NE of the European Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice site at Little Dome C (LDC). In the 2025/26 season, casing was installed and deep drilling commenced using a new AAD deep drill system. Completion of drilling to bedrock is scheduled for the 2028/29 season.
One-dimensional ice modelling, constrained by ice penetrating radar and isochrones traced back to the original EPICA Dome C ice core site, indicate an age above the basal ice at DCN potentially reaching 2 million years (Ma) and a resolution at 1.5 Ma of 10,000 years per metre or better (Chung et al., 2023).
Laboratory capabilities for MYIC are directed at measurements required to test hypotheses on the cause of the MPT. Ice core continuous flow analysis (CFA) for conductivity, particles and soluble ions are underway, with fraction-collected aliquots taken for measurement of cosmogenic 10Be. Gas and water isotope measurements on the returned ice are scheduled to start this year. The new gas laboratory developed for the project combines a small-sample sublimation extraction system coupled to a Quantum Cascade Laser spectrometer and dual inlet mass spectrometry for combined measurement of CO2, δ13C-CO2, CH4, and N2O, as well as the main air isotopes. There are opportunities for measurements of other parameters through national and international collaboration.
J. Pedro [1,2], D. Baggenstos [1,2], M.A.J. Curran [1,2], A. Moy [1,2], M. Nation [1,2], C. Plummer [1,2], J. Roberts [1,2], L. Jong [1,2], J.A. Menking [2,3], D. Harvie [1], C. Richards [1], C. Young [1], L. Denniss [1], S. Whiteside [1], M. Lai [4], D. Etheridge [2,3], A.M. Smith [5], A. Chung [6,7], R. Mulvaney [8], F. Parrenin [7], J. Rix [1], T. van Ommen [2,9]. [1] Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), Kingston, Australia. [2] Australian Antarctic Program Partnership (AAPP), Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia [3] Oceans and Atmosphere, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Aspendale, Australia [4] ARC Training Centre for Hyphenated Analytical Separation Technologies (HyTECH), Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia [5] Centre for Accelerator Science, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, Australia [6] Physics Institute, Climate and Environmental Physics and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland [7] Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble, France [8] British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK [9] Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
How to cite: Pedro, J. B. and the Million Year Ice Core Project Team: The Million Year Ice Core Project at Dome C North, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8488, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8488, 2026.
