European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA)

SUMMARY
This first "Grand Challenge" was selected by the European Committee for Ocean and Polar Sciences (ECOPS) on the grounds of its intrinsic scientific worth and because the community of European scientists lead the world in these glaciological studies. Geographical location, ice thickness and climatology combine to make Antarctica the storehouse of the longest and most representative proxy data for the composition and temperature of ancient atmospheres. EPICA will require great human and financial resources and it is calculated that more than 20 million ECU will be needed for the first 5 year phase. Most of the necessary funds will come from national research programmes in Antarctica, together with a sizeable amount provided through the EC programme "Environment".


European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA)

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Quick links ------------------------ Duration Activities Programme management Contact 06/05/2003


Summary

This first "Grand Challenge" was selected by the European Committee for Ocean and Polar Sciences (ECOPS) on the grounds of its intrinsic scientific worth and because the community of European scientists lead the world in these glaciological studies. Geographical location, ice thickness and climatology combine to make Antarctica the storehouse of the longest and most representative proxy data for the composition and temperature of ancient atmospheres. EPICA will require great human and financial resources and it is calculated that more than 20 million ECU will be needed for the first 5 year phase. Most of the necessary funds will come from national research programmes in Antarctica, together with a sizeable amount provided through the EC programme "Environment". More

Duration
Five years, from January 1996 to December 2000.
Extended for a further five years, January 2001 to December 2005
For current status, see News

Activities
Download EPICA brochure (8 pages - 199 KB)
http://www.esf.org/articles/85/Epica.pdf


Programme management

Steering Committee currently chaired by Professor Heinz Miller
(Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Bremerhaven, Germany).

Phase 1 (1996-2000) chaired by Dr. Jean Jouzel
(Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, CEA-CNRS, Gif sur Yvette, France).

Contact
Ms. Pat Cosgrove
Administrator
Svenje Mehlert, Scientific Secretary
European Science Foundation
+33 (0)3 88 76 71 06
+33 (0)3 88 37 05 32