BE COOL

Antarctic blue ice areas offer a unique opportunity to access ancient ice directly at the surface. This ice preserves valuable information about past temperatures and atmospheric composition, providing crucial insights into Earth’s climate system.Building on the experience from the BELSPO FROID project, BE COOL (BalchenfjElla blue ice areas quest for the reCOvery of the OLdest ice) explores the Balchenfjella region, located 150 km from the Belgian research station Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. Estimated terrestrial ages of meteorites suggest that this site could contain ice of several hundred thousand to over a million years old.

Through high-resolution geophysical and geochemical surveys, ice-flow modelling, and targeted drilling (up to 250 m depth), BE COOL aims to recover and analyse this old ice. These data will further advance the wider understanding of blue ice areas as traps for old ice and meteorites.

The FROID project is funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and in collaboration with the Laboratoire de Glaciologie of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB).