in-SitU proBing of GLACier Ice for a betterunderstanding of the Orbital Response of climate

The IPEV SUBGLACIOR project makes the logistical counterpart of the following scientific projects already funded : (1) the European ERC Advanced grant project ICE&LASERS 2012-2017 (coordinator : J. Chappellaz), (2) the French ANR “Blanc” project SUBGLACIOR 2012-2016 (coordinator : O. Alemany), (3) the sponsoring of the BNP Paribas foundation (SUBGLACIOR 2011-2013, coordinator : J. Chappellaz), and (4) one of the components of the Equipex project CLIMCOR (coordinator : D.D. Rousseau, INSU/C2FN). These joint projects (or component) aim at building a revolutionary probe to measure as a function of depth, inside the glacier and in real time, the water isotopic composition (climatic signal) and the concentration of greenhouse gases (methane, and eventually carbon dioxide – provided that we handle solubility effets -), without bringing an ice core at the surface. Ultimately, the probe will allow us to rapidly test the pertinence of an Antarctic site for a new deep drilling operation, similar to EPICA, to study the link between climate and greenhouse gases through the main climatic transition of the mid-Pleistocene one million years ago. In addition, the probe will already obtain – within a single field season – the first and most important signals over this period of time. The IPEV SUGLACIOR project will include in a first step two test campaigns in 2013/2014 and 2014/2015, to evaluate some technical choices currently envisaged for specific components of this probe. In 2015/2016, the full probe will be implemented at Concordia to measure the depth profile of water isotopes and greenhouse gas down to 3260 m of depth, and thus to validate the method against the results already obtained with the EPICA Dome C deep drilling. The last year of the project, 2016/2017, will be dedicated to the implementation of the SUBGLACIOR probe at a site of the East Antarctic plateau which can easily be reached from Concordia. The site will have been pre-selected by the “oldest ice” committee of the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS).