Pioneering Climate Change Research in Antarctica wins prestigious European Prize

The research project EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) has been rewarded one of EU’s Descartes prizes on research. The prize, which was awarded on 12 March in Brussels, is awarded to teams for “outstanding transnational projects on natural sciences and humanities”.

17/03/2008 ::

The project EPICA has retrieved climate records from the past 800.000 years by coring deep into the Antarctic and measure ice samples for temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations. This has provided scientists with crucial information about the current climate change. The results have, among others, shown that the rise in greenhouse concentrations is the highest in 650,000 years. 

The Norwegian Polar Institute is an active participant in the project, together with scientists and researches from 9 other European countries. The Institute is Norway's central institution for research, environmental monitoring and mapping of the polar regions, and serves as professional advisor for the Directorate for Nature Management, the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority, the Directorate for Cultural Heritage and the Governor on Svalbard. The Institute is also responsible for the follow-up and implementation of Norwegian environmental legislation in the Antarctic.

The glaciologist Elisabeth Isaksson from the Polar Institute and leader of the Norwegian contribution to the EPICA project expressed great enthusiasm over the award: “the EPICA project is one of the most important climate projects of our time. This projects has conducted climate related research by students and scientists in an internationally diversed group. The Descartes prize will intensify this research cooperation” she said.