With support from NSF’s Office of Polar Programs, University of Washington (Steig and Fudge), UC-Irvine (Aydin), University of New Hampshire (Twickler and Souney), and University of Minnesota Twin Cities (Roop) provide coordination and leadership for the Hercules Dome ice core project.

The team oversees the project and works with NSF and the Antarctic Support Contractor (ASC) on planning. The team also works with the U.S. National Science Foundation Ice Drilling Program (IDP) on field plans, drill development and modification, choice of drilling fluid, and other technical matters. Finally, the team coordinates (but does not dictate) the submission of independent science proposals to analyze the core (and related projects such as borehole logging) and is responsible for overseeing core processing, sample allocation, data sharing, and organizing science workshops and the broader dissemination of results. The result is a coordinated community effort with active collaboration that maximizes the total scientific return from all individual projects.

Proposals for funding of specific scientific projects will be submitted separately by individual investigators after the project is underway.

Additional information is available about Hercules Dome and the tentative project timeline.