A team composed of French scientists from CNRS, Grenoble Alpes University and Italian researchers from CNR and INGV has successfully completed the EAIIST mission (East Antarctic International Ice Sheet Traverse). The aim of the project is the collection of data which allow the estimation of rainfall in the center of the white continent, along a route never taken before, and which allow scientists to verify the results of some models of atmospheric circulation and a more reliable estimate of the phenomenon of sea level rise, through the study of these precious climate archives.
The crossing was organized by the French Polar Institute (IPEV) with the collaboration of the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA), starting from the Italian-French station Concordia in the direction of the South Pole.
The expedition was financed on the French side by the Agence nationale de la recherche and by the Fondation BNP Paribas, on the Italian side by the PNRA, financed by the MIUR (Ministry of Education, University and Research) and coordinated by the CNR (National Research Council) for the scientific activities, and by ENEA (National Agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic development) for the operational implementation of the shipments.
On the subject of climate change, one of the greatest unknowns concerns the impact of global warming in Antarctica. An accelerated melting of the polar cap has already been detected by the scientific community, especially in coastal areas, but according to some models of atmospheric circulation, the warming could also be accompanied by more intense rainfall on the white continent. If this hypothesis were true, the loss of ice sheet mass could be partially offset by the increase in snowfall. Consequently, the phenomenon of sea level rise could be estimated more accurately. The data collected by the EAIIST project will be used by French, Italian and Australian scientists to verify the reliability of this hypothesis by checking whether the accumulation of snow on the Antarctic plateau has really increased.
The EAIIST scientific traverse departed from Concordia station on 7 December 2019 and returned on 17 January 2020. Made up of ten people, two Italians and eight French, it crossed 800 km of the Antarctic plateau until it reached the "megadune" area. These are structures unique to Earth: glassy-looking surfaces where the ice is smooth and bare with large-scale undulations, invisible to the naked eye, but detectable by satellite. During the trip, the staff was engaged in numerous activities: snow samples were collected, both superficial and deep, which will make it possible to improve knowledge on the phenomena of atmospheric circulation and transport within the continent, as well as to verify the arrival of anthropogenic contaminants. Six new seismic stations equipped with broadband sensors and five new GPS stations have also been installed, which will allow a study of seismic events and micro-deformations connected to glacial dynamics. Superficial photogrammetric surveys of the plateau and georadar surveys were also carried out for a total of about 1200 km, for the study of snow accumulation and stratification in the various areas crossed. The climatic history of the sites crossed will be reconstructed through the study and analysis of the almost 1000 meters of ice cores collected.
Numerous skills are present in the field: from snow physics to geophysics, geochemistry, atmospheric chemistry and meteorology. The ground measurements will then be correlated with satellite data and completed by laboratory studies.
The director of the project is Joël Savarino, a French researcher from the CNRS, the Institut des géosciences de l'environnement (CNRS/Université Grenoble-Alpes/IRD/Grenoble INP); for Italy, the project manager is Professor Barbara Stenni of the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Andrea Spolaor (CNR-ISP) and Graziano Larocca (INGV) also took part in the traverse. In addition to the scientists participating in the expedition, there will be around forty researchers from around fifteen Italian, French and Australian laboratories who will work on the collected data.
The cost of logistical support, including staff salaries, exceeds one million euros. The French agency "Agence nationale de la recherche" and the BNP Paribas Foundation financed the enterprise with an additional 1,6 million euros.
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Photo 1 - The EAIIST traverse on the go -
Photo 2 - Snow sampling in the hand-dug trench course - Photo G. Larocca © IPEV-PNRA
Photo 3 - Preparation of the core barrel for ice drilling. Credits G. Larocca © IPEV-PNRA