Green2Ice is funded by a Horizon Europe ERC Synergy grant. The project started in April 2023 and will run for 6 years.

The Greenland ice sheet is the second largest ice body on Earth. Even though scientists have drilled deep in it and recovered oldest sediments, this huge frozen island may hide secrets. As the ice is melting faster than expected, these ice samples are becoming crucial for our understanding of the current phenomena and future developments. So far, however, researchers did not know how to crack these problems.

Now Green2Ice aims to develop and apply cutting-edge dating methods to this unique sample collection. Doing so will reconstruct the ice sheet’s age and stability. It will also help us understand the implications of ice-free conditions in Greenland on the sea levels and microbial populations below the ice that present a potent contribution to greenhouse gases.

First, the team is planning to retrieve new ice samples to document the ice sheet’s collapse. Then, they will develop new dating approaches to reconstruct the ice sheet’s history. They hope to gain insights into the climatic conditions during the ice-free intervals and improve our understanding of the environment beneath the ice sheet. Finally, they will calculate the temperature conditions needed for Greenland to be ice-free and predict the future sea level rise.

This unique project brings together researchers specialised in various complementary fields. Dorthe Dahl-Jensen is bringing her expertise in geophysics and modelling, François Fripiat – in biogeochemistry on basal ice and frozen sediments, Pierre-Henri Blard is contributing his knowledge in geochemistry and geochronology, Anders Svensson – in ice core measurements and stratigraphy.