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Ice cores are a few inches across. The photo at the top of the article is not of the drill hole but of the hole they had to dig in the snow to get to the ice th

Ice cores are a few inches across. The photo at the top of the article is not of the drill hole but of the hole they had to dig in the snow to get to the ice they actually drilled. See the photo of the final ice core [1] to see how miniscule the actual drill hole is. [1] https://science.ku.dk/english/press/news/2023/pay-dirt-for-ice-core-scientists-in-east-greenland-as-they-reach-bedrock/billedinformationer/20230721_SteffTrevor__photo_Sepp_Kipfstuhl_.png https://science.ku.dk/english/press/news/2023/pay-dirt-for-i...

Giorgi 3y ago
Why is is black and white though? also - how do they transfer energy to drill down 2.7km? or how the hell does it work?
- TheRealPomax 3y ago
  See other comment, and "that's a fun thing to check youtube for", respectively =)
- tgamma 3y ago
  As mentioned in the article, the core was handled under red light to prevent any potential damage. Perhaps the decision to convert the photograph to black and white was made because otherwise it would have been black and red.
blackkettle 3y ago
The article definitely makes it sound like they had “boots on the ground”. There’s a picture of muddy boots and the caption says they are covered in ancient mud.
- tokai 3y ago
  That mud came up with the last core.
- TheRealPomax 3y ago
  You need to clear a lot of snow before you can stand on the ice that you're drilling in (You can't drill straight if your rig's sitting on snow, you need to dig until you hit solid ground, and in this case the ground is ice). That's the "boots on the ground" part. They were physically there to do the drilling (as opposed to giant automated core drillers such as DISC[1], which don't require "boots on the ground" so much as they just require one or more operators to oversee operation) The ancient mud's from hauling up the ice cores, not from standing 3 kilometers deep in a giant hole. [1] https://icedrill.org/equipment/deep-ice-sheet-coring-drill https://icedrill.org/equipment/deep-ice-sheet-coring-drill
  - blackkettle 3y ago
    I’m not disputing the reality; it would be a bit ridiculous and I assume incredibly dangerous especially given the rate at which the whole thing is moving. I’m just arguing that the article is worded in a way that is encourages such a misunderstanding.

Giorgi 3y ago

Why is is black and white though? also - how do they transfer energy to drill down 2.7km? or how the hell does it work?

TheRealPomax 3y ago
See other comment, and "that's a fun thing to check youtube for", respectively =)
tgamma 3y ago
As mentioned in the article, the core was handled under red light to prevent any potential damage. Perhaps the decision to convert the photograph to black and white was made because otherwise it would have been black and red.

blackkettle 3y ago

The article definitely makes it sound like they had “boots on the ground”. There’s a picture of muddy boots and the caption says they are covered in ancient mud.

tokai 3y ago
That mud came up with the last core.
TheRealPomax 3y ago
You need to clear a lot of snow before you can stand on the ice that you're drilling in (You can't drill straight if your rig's sitting on snow, you need to dig until you hit solid ground, and in this case the ground is ice). That's the "boots on the ground" part. They were physically there to do the drilling (as opposed to giant automated core drillers such as DISC[1], which don't require "boots on the ground" so much as they just require one or more operators to oversee operation) The ancient mud's from hauling up the ice cores, not from standing 3 kilometers deep in a giant hole. [1] https://icedrill.org/equipment/deep-ice-sheet-coring-drill https://icedrill.org/equipment/deep-ice-sheet-coring-drill
- blackkettle 3y ago
  I’m not disputing the reality; it would be a bit ridiculous and I assume incredibly dangerous especially given the rate at which the whole thing is moving. I’m just arguing that the article is worded in a way that is encourages such a misunderstanding.