China successfully mines world's longest ice core outside the polar regions

On October 29, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced that they had successfully extracted a 324-meter-long ice core from the thickest glacier on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

This is the longest ice core ever drilled on the plateau and also the longest ice core in the world drilled outside the polar regions.

China successfully mined the world's longest ice core. (Photo: Xinhua).

Despite wind and snow, researchers have been working tirelessly for more than a month on the top of the Purog Kangri Glacier in Tsonyi County, China's highest county in the Tibet Autonomous Region with an average elevation of more than 5,000 meters above sea level. The ice core has surpassed the previous record set in 1992, when Chinese and American scientists drilled a 308.6-meter-long ice core from the Guliya Glacier in Ngari Prefecture on the Tibetan Plateau, according to CAS.

Glaciers contain important information about the Earth's climate history. 'The longest ice core here has unique geographical and climatic characteristics, preserving long-term climate and environmental information in this region,' said Xu Baiqing, deputy director of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (CAS) and project leader.

During scientific research at the Purog Kangri glacier, which began in September, scientists determined that it was the thickest glacier on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, after discovering an ice field with a maximum thickness of nearly 400 meters.

'Glaciers around the world are thinning,' said Lonnie Thompson, a member of the American Academy of Sciences who has been involved in the study since September. 'As they melt, the historical information stored within them will disappear. Therefore, the extraction and preservation of ice cores is very important to collect historical information .'

The ice core drilling and thickness measurement of the Purog Kangri Glacier are part of China's second scientific exploration and research project on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which was launched in August 2017. By measuring the thickness and extracting ice cores, scientists can better examine the changes occurring in the largest ice field in the mid-to-low latitudes, as well as the environmental changes recorded, thereby gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of global warming on glaciers.