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Memories in the Ice

It's the Earth's largest archive, and it is disappearing before our very eyes.

Illimani summit at over 6,400 m, during the Ice Memory project in Bolivia
Illimani summit at over 6,400 m, during the Ice Memory project in Bolivia

© Bruno JOURDAIN / IGE / CNRS Images

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Trapped in the ice in glaciers and the ice caps, we find atmospheric gases and pollen deposited by the wind, enabling us to trace the history of our planet. In this series of documentaries, we follow the teams of scientists as they attempt to decipher the messages held in these archives and preserve them for generations to come.

CNRS News Slideshow

En se formant, la glace emprisonne les différents composants chimiques de l’atmosphère : gaz, acides, métaux lourds, radioactivité, isotopes de l’eau…
Memory on ice
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20160099_0057
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Lamella of ice observed against the light, during an ice coring operation at the col du Dôme pass (4,300 m) in the Mont-Blanc massif in August 2016. This operation was part of the Mémoire de la Glace (memory of ice) programme instated to save the glacial world heritage. An international team of glaciologists and engineers collected three ice cores, each 130 m long. One of these cores will be analysed in 2019 with the aim of constituting a database to be made available to the entire scientific…

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20160099_0057
Lamella of ice observed against the light, during an ice coring operation
20160099_0017
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Snow ridge on the Goûter Needle in the Mont-Blanc massif in August 2016. This picture was taken during an ice coring operation at the col du Dôme pass. This operation was part of the Mémoire de la Glace (memory of ice) programme instated to save the glacial world heritage. An international team of glaciologists and engineers collected three ice cores, each 130 m long. One of these cores will be analysed in 2019 with the aim of constituting a database to be made available to the entire…

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20160099_0017
Snow ridge on the Goûter Needle in the Mont-Blanc massif in August 2016

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Our work is guided by the way scientists question the world around them and we translate their research into images to help people to understand the world better and to awaken their curiosity and wonderment.