Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Innsbruck | Website
Short Description
The 3" ice core drill is a portable core drill that allows drilling in cold and temperate ice. On the one hand, the ice core drill can be operated mechanically and thus used for cold ice. On the other hand, the ice core drill can also be operated thermally at any time and enables drilling in temperate ice. The drill is therefore also suitable for changing conditions and has a maximum drilling depth of 200 m, whereby it can be extended to a drilling depth of 300 m.
The possibility of using the drill in temperate and cold ice opens up a research field to be covered at altitudes where it is not guaranteed to find cold ice. The few drill sites in the eastern and western Alps where old ice can be found are limited. Some of these drill sites are in danger of disappearing completely due to the strong melting of the ice, even in high-alpine locations, or of irretrievably losing younger ice on the surface. With this ice drill, ice can still be archived that will not exist for long. And thus an irretrievable climate archive can be secured.
Contact Person
Andrea Fischer
Research Services
Please contact the Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research if interested. No commerical use.
Methods & Expertise for Research Infrastructure
The thermodrill is used to retrieve ice cores from the cold summit glaciers. The IGF Team contributes glaciological expertise to select, analyze and monitor the test site. This sets the base for a glaciological and climatological characterization of the summit glacier. Together with the results from the ice core analysis, past climate changes are interpreted.