Polar Ice Geochemistry Unit

Core drilling in the polar ice caps provides environmental information at high temporal resolution for periods ranging from the last few decades to several hundred thousand years. Numerous physico-chemical parameters are measured in the ice as part of national and international collaborations. The CEREGE polar ice geochemistry unit focuses on cosmogenic nuclides such as beryllium 10 (10Be) and chlorine 36 (36Cl), which allow the documentation of past solar activity and the detection of variations in the Earth's magnetic field.

The ice samples are prepared in the unit installed in the Trocadero building extension built in 2014 which includes a working cold room in negative temperature. After chemical treatment, the samples are analysed using the ASTER accelerator mass spectrometer of the LN2C national laboratory. The setting up and equipping of the laboratory of the polar ice geochemistry unit benefited from funding from the Collège de France and the ANR (VolSol and Vanish projects).