A 10-member Chinese research team drilled ice cores on the Biafo Glacier and lake sediment cores in the Sheo Sar and Saiful Malook lakes in the Karakoram Mountains during a recent 108-day research expedition. The project was led by TPE scientist Prof. XU Baiqing of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), with the assistance of the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmospheric Research Commission (SUPARCO). It ran from Sept. 30, 2019 to Jan. 18 of this year,

Ice and lake sediment cores are important proxies for reconstructing the spatiotemporal characteristics of climate and environmental change. They help identify transitional climate events and featured events during the last ice age in the Pan-Third Pole region.

The expedition overcame extreme weather and high altitude to successfully drill ice cores with a total length of more than 110 meters at an altitude of 5600 meters above sea level on the Biafo Glacier. The scientists also collected snow and ice samples along with the altitudinal snow pit profiles from 5250 meters to 5600 meters above sea level. In addition, they completed bathymetric surveys and short sediment core drillings of the Sheo Sar and Saiful Malook lakes. Four lake sediment cores were drilled in each lake to study millennium-scale climate and environmental changes in the region. The team will analyze the ice core samples for indicators such as oxygen isotopes, black carbon, particles and heavy metals, etc. They will analyze lake sediment core samples for indicators including 210Pb and 137Cs radioactivity, particle size, elements, and the 14C age of pollen. 

During the field investigation, the team used helicopters and airborne radar to carry out glacial thickness measurements on the Biafo Glacier, thus successfully obtaining glacial geometry and depth data. This suggests a bright future for automatic detection of glacial thickness and surface structural features at extremely high altitudes using high technology.

This field work was supported by the Pan-Third Pole Environment (Pan-TPE) program.

Ice core drilling camp on the Biafo Glacier

Inside the ice core drilling camp

Preparing for lake sediment core drilling

Lake sediment core drilling