Preserve the ice memory for future generations

The Ice Memory successfully extracted from the endangered Colle del Lys glacier in the Alps: 2 ice cores drilled for research and preserved for Heritage.

2 ice cores
105 and 106 m length
150-200 years of planet history

Team

Jacopo Gabrieli (expedition leader), Fabrizio de Blasi, Giulio Cozzi, Andrea Spolaor and Chiara Venier, researchers from the CNR Institute of Polar Sciences, Federico Scoto, researcher from the CNR Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Daniele Zannoni, researcher at Ca' Foscari University Venice, Stefano Urbini, researcher at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Victor Zagorodnov, researcher and founder of Cryosphere Research Solutions, Paolo Conz, mountain guide, and Riccardo Selvatico, photographer and videomaker. Personnel from the Montagna Sicura Foundation and the Guardia di Finanza mountain rescue stations (SAGF) in Cervinia and Alagna supported the operations.

Glacier

The Colle del Lys glacier, on the Monte Rosa massif is located in the Alps, on the border between Italy and Switzerland at an elevation of about 4250m. Several drilling campaigns have been carried out over the past 3 decades: 1996: 1 core (80m long), 2000: 2 core (11m and 24m long), 2003: 1 core (106m long), 2012: 1 core (32m long). Until 2023, no any drilling reached the bedrock, which was estimated at -120m

The site was selected after accurate radar surveys operated thanks to the collaboration with Stefano Urbini, Ingv researcher.

This extraordinary book is full of incredible high precision data about the evolution of climate over the last 150-200 years.

Result

The Ice Memory was successfully extracted from the endangered Colle del Lys glacier in the Alps: 2 ice cores drilled for research and preserved for Heritage. The team worked for 10 days at an altitude of 4,155 meters in a remote camp set up for the mission.
 

"The biggest difficulties concerned the first 10 meters of the drilling: a part defined as "firn", a transition layer between snow and ice. In these first 10-15 meters we found quite a lot of liquid water, which infiltrated the first layers and made it more difficult to operate the core barrel. This leads us to say that, even at these altitudes, climate change is acting heavily on the melting of our glaciers." says Jacopo Gabrieli, coordinator of this expedition and glaciologist at CNR-ISP. "Then, the drilling operations went very well: we were able to work quickly and extract two ice cores down to the bedrock, which is the rock surface that lies underneath the glacier". 

The operations required intense work in temperatures several degrees below zero (down to -10°C). Operating for ten days, the team successfully completed the mission to extract two ice cores more than 100 meters deep: 105.89 meters and 106.40 meters in length (3)

Over just seven days, they extracted two ice cores measuring more than 100 meters in length. The Colle del Lys glacier is like an extraordinary book full of incredible details about the evolution of climate over the last 150-200 years in Europe. 

The mission was conducted as part of the international Ice Memory Foundation project and was coordinated by the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council (CNR-ISP) .

One of the two 'ice cores' extracted by the researchers will be analyzed in the laboratories of Ca' Foscari University of Venice, the other will be sent to the Ice Memory Sanctuary in Antarctica, at the French-Italian base in Concordia.

1. The Monte Rosa drilling expedition, co-funded by MUR and Ice Memory Foundation and coordinated by CNR's Institute of Polar Sciences in collaboration with Ca' Foscari University of Venice, CNR's Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, the Autonomous Region of Valle d'Aosta and the Municipality of Gressoney La Trinité.

2. The mission has benefited from the logistical and operational support of the Fondazione Montagna Sicura, Forte di Bard and the Guardia di Finanza mountain rescue stations in Alagna and Cervinia. 

3. The mission was conducted as part of the international Ice Memory Foundation project and was coordinated by the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council (CNR-ISP), in collaboration with Ca' Foscari University of Venice, CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, the Autonomous Region of Valle d'Aosta, the Fondazione Montagna Sicura, the Municipality of Gressoney La Trinité, the Forte di Bard the Guardia di Finanza mountain rescue stations in Alagna and Cervinia. The activities on Colle del Lys are part of expeditions to study and preserve Italian glaciers funded by the Ministry of University and Research and the Ice Memory Foundation.  

4. Technical sponsors of the expedition are Karpos, Aku and Polibox.
   
   
   
   Photos © Riccardo Selvatico - Ice Memory Foundation / CNR