Ice sculptures constructed from the spare core samples by the scientists working on the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling project.
The ice samples, which the researchers analyze for clues to the temperature and concentration of greenhouse gases of the ancient atmosphere, are collected using this drill.
The visiting group of scientists, journalists and Danish environmental officials land at NEEM, the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling project. NEEM had arranged for the visitors to examine their research, which focuses on the climatic conditions which shaped the warm geologic period before the earth's last Ice Age, an important clue in understanding global warming. The camp is located approximately 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
The scientists are drilling deep into the ice, which is 1.5 miles thick, the accumulation of 130,000 years of snow. These researchers are taking ice near the surface, which can help them analyze the last few hundred years of climatic history.
The main drill, which will excavate the deepest ice cores, is being built in this underground site.
The tour also included a visit to the coastal town of Ilulissat, home to one of the most productive glaciers in the world. A tour of Disko Bay, outside the town, revealed massive icebergs floating in the water, the product of accelerated melting.
The main graveyard in Ilulissat, just outside the town, overlooks the icebergs of Disko Bay.
Pools of melted water slice through the Ilulissat icefjord, which is fed by the melting Sermeq Kujalleq glacier.
Greenland has lost an average of 150 billion tons of ice a year over the past four summers.
In 2004, UNESCO declared the Ilulissat icefjord a World Heritage site.
Every year, the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier surrenders around 20 billion tons of icebergs into the ocean. Most of them end up in the northern Atlantic.
