Greenland ice core project

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View of the GRIP site
View of the GRIP site

The Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) was a multinational European research project, organised through the European Science Foundation. Funding came from 8 nations (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Switzerland, and United Kingdom), and from the European Union. GRIP successfully drilled a 3028 metre ice core to the bed of the Greenland Ice Sheet at Summit, Central Greenland from 1989 to 1992 at 72o 35' N, 37o 38' W.

A portion of the core
A portion of the core

Studies of isotopes and various atmospheric constituents in the core have revealed a detailed record of climatic variations reaching more than 100,000 years back in time. The results indicate that Holocene climate has been remarkably stable and have confirmed the occurrence of rapid climatic variation during the last ice age (the Wisconsin). Delta-O-18 variations observed in the core part believed to date from the Eemian interglacial have not been confirmed by other records [1] including the NGRIP core and are now believed not to represent climate events: the Eemian appears to have been as stable as the Holocene.

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