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| © Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited Ten scientists will live in a temporary 'ice lab' at Law Dome near Casey station for three months in 2019 as part of the world-first mission |
By Phoebe Weston, Daily Mail
Antarctic researchers are drilling 800ft (250m) deep holes in the ice sheet to find a mysterious 'detergent' that could clean the air of harmful greenhouse gases.
Ten scientists will live in a temporary 'ice lab' at Law Dome near Casey station for three months in 2019 as part of the world-first mission.
Researchers will drill ice cores to measure pre-industrial atmospheric levels of hydroxyl, which has never been done before.
They believe this natural 'atmospheric detergent' could clean the air of harmful trace gases.
Although the majority of greenhouse gas emissions is carbon dioxide, there are more than 40 other gases that contribute to climate change and depletion of the ozone layer.
The project, led by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), seeks to understand the natural processes that remove these 'other' climate change gases from the atmosphere.
The 'Law Dome Hydroxyl' project is led by atmospheric scientist Dr David Etheridge and Dr Vas Petrenko from the University of Rochester in the US.
'Hydroxyl (OH) is a naturally occurring, highly reactive molecule that plays an important role in the atmosphere as a 'natural air purifier', by destroying greenhouse gases like methane and industrial chemicals that deplete ozone,' said Dr Etheridge.
'But we don't understand how much has been removed by hydroxyl, which is fundamental to be able to predict the levels of gases that affect climate and the ozone layer into the future.
'Knowing how hydroxyl varies in the atmosphere, and the role it plays, is the key to solving those mysteries', he said.
To measure pre-industrial atmospheric levels of hydroxyl, the team will traverse more than a hundred kilometres from Australia's Casey research station to Law Dome and set up a laboratory on the ice sheet for three months.
'Law Dome is the best place on the planet to get old air for this project, because its enormous rate of snowfall traps air quickly and preserves it at depth for centuries,' said Dr Etheridge.
However, the project is a massive challenge because of the tiny amounts of material that the researchers need to sample and analyse.
'Melting hundreds of kilograms of ice will yield about 30 litres of air, but each air sample will yield just a handful of the molecules we want to detect and measure', Dr Etheridge said.
'The concentrations we're looking for are so miniscule it's like trying to find a few particular grains of sand amongst the trillions on a beach.'
This season more than 500 expeditioners will travel south with the Australian Antarctic Program to Casey, Davis and Mawson stations and sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island.
Australia's Wilkins Aerodrome will be closed for three months to undertake engineering works on the two-mile (3.5km) blue ice runway near Casey.
Across at Davis research station, a team will undertake some further environmental investigations of the proposed paved runway.
'But we don't understand how much has been removed by hydroxyl, which is fundamental to be able to predict the levels of gases that affect climate and the ozone layer into the future.
'Knowing how hydroxyl varies in the atmosphere, and the role it plays, is the key to solving those mysteries', he said.
To measure pre-industrial atmospheric levels of hydroxyl, the team will traverse more than a hundred kilometres from Australia's Casey research station to Law Dome and set up a laboratory on the ice sheet for three months.
'Law Dome is the best place on the planet to get old air for this project, because its enormous rate of snowfall traps air quickly and preserves it at depth for centuries,' said Dr Etheridge.
However, the project is a massive challenge because of the tiny amounts of material that the researchers need to sample and analyse.
'Melting hundreds of kilograms of ice will yield about 30 litres of air, but each air sample will yield just a handful of the molecules we want to detect and measure', Dr Etheridge said.
'The concentrations we're looking for are so miniscule it's like trying to find a few particular grains of sand amongst the trillions on a beach.'
This season more than 500 expeditioners will travel south with the Australian Antarctic Program to Casey, Davis and Mawson stations and sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island.
Australia's Wilkins Aerodrome will be closed for three months to undertake engineering works on the two-mile (3.5km) blue ice runway near Casey.
Across at Davis research station, a team will undertake some further environmental investigations of the proposed paved runway.
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