The Ice Memory Foundation Prepares for Transport of Ice Cores to Antarctica

The Ice Memory Foundation is gearing up for the upcoming transport of ice cores from mountain glaciers to the Ice Memory Sanctuary in Antarctica. This announcement comes as part of the launch of the UN Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences (2025-2034) during the third UN Ocean Conference in Nice on June 8.

These ice cores, preserved in the Ice Memory Sanctuary at Concordia Station, will be made available for study by future generations of scientists. The first Ice Memory alpine ice cores, extracted between 2016 and 2023, are set to leave the laboratory cold rooms of the CNR-ISP in Italy in October.

Departing from the port of Trieste, the ice cores will be transported aboard the icebreaker Laura Bassi, an Italian research vessel managed by Italy’s National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics. After crossing the Atlantic and sailing to Christchurch, New Zealand, the ice cores will finally reach the Italian Station Mario Zucchelli in Antarctica in early December. From there, they will be flown to the Franco-Italian Concordia Station.

Located at an altitude of 3,233 meters on the High Antarctic Plateau, Concordia Station is an ideal location for storing the ice samples, with an average temperature of -54°C, dropping to as low as -84°C in winter. The stability of the temperature 10 meters below the surface of the snow further ensures the preservation of the ice cores without the need for artificial refrigeration.

The Ice Memory Sanctuary, approved by The Antarctic Treaty System in 2024 and funded by the Prince Albert II Foundation, will house the ice cores in a specially constructed cave dug into the snow for long-term preservation. In the coming years, dozens of other Ice Memory heritage ice cores from around the world will join them in this unique preservation effort.

With this initiative, the Ice Memory Foundation is not only safeguarding invaluable scientific data but also contributing to the collective understanding of our planet’s history and climate evolution.