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Ice Memory is an international initiative which aims to constitute the first world library of archived glacier ice, to preserve this invaluable scientific heritage for the generations to come, when future techniques can obtain even more data from these samples.[1]
In 2015, the Ice Memory project started with the meeting of Jérôme Chappellaz - CNRS - EPFL, Patrick Ginot - IRD (IGE/UGA-CNRS-IRD-G-INP) from France and Carlo Barbante (CNR/Ca’Foscari Univ. of Venice) from Italy to conduct drilling expeditions worldwide and safeguard the data present in the ice[2] - the memory of the ice - in an sanctuary in Antarctica.
According to UNESCO and IUCN report "World Heritage glaciers: sentinels of climate change"[3] announcing that about 30% of glaciers recognized as World Heritage Sites will disappear by 2050 and 50% by 2100 without a drastic and immediate reduction in greenhouse gases, the Ice Memory initiative has been described as urgent and meaningful for humanity wellbeing and acknowledged by UNESCO in 2017[4]
Indeed, previous glaciology researches made by notably Claude Lorius, Glaciologist and Ice Memory first supporter, Dominique Raynaud and Jean Jouzel aimed to prove the link between atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases and climate change while studying ice cores.
In the coming decades, it is expected that researchers will have new ideas and techniques to develop those scientific results. For instance, they may be able to isolate other information contained in the ice of which we are not aware today.
This scientific information trapped in the ice — synthesised and highlighted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — is a useful element in the crucial decisions of how to shape international environmental and climate policy.
Since its beginnings in 2015, the Ice Memory project conducted nine drilling expeditions in France, Italy, Switzerland, Bolivia, Russia and Norway (Svalbard).
- in 2023 at Colle del Lys / Italy, the team collected 2 ice cores of 105 and 106 m length recovering 150–200 years of planet history[5]
- in 2023 at Svalbard / Norway, the team collected 3 ice cores of 74 m length recovering 300–400 years of planet history
- in 2022 at Kilimanjaro / Tanzania, the team could not reach the summit for diplomatic issues
- in 2021 at Monte Rosa / Italy, the team collected 3 ice cores of 130 m length recovering 300–400 years of planet history
- in 2020 at Grand Combin / Switzerland, the team collected 3 ice cores of 16, 18 and 26 m length[6]
- in 2018 at Elbrus / Russia, the team collected 2 ice cores of 150 and 120 m length recovering more than 500 years of planet history
- in 2018 at Belukha / Russia, the team collected 2 ice cores of 160 and 106 m length
- in 2017 at Illimani / Bolivia, the team collected 2 ice cores of 137 and 134 m length recovering 18 000 years of planet history,[7]
- in 2016 at Col du Dôme / France, the team collected 3 ice cores of 128 m length recovering more than 200 years of planet history[8]
By trapping the different components of the atmosphere, ice represents an invaluable source of information for tracing our environmental past, for providing an account of past climate change, and especially for understanding our future.
Variations in temperature, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, natural aerosol emissions, pollutants produced by humans.
The science of ice cores can study the dozens of chemical compounds that are trapped in the ice: gases, acids, heavy metals, radioactivity, and water isotopes form the memory of the climates and environments of the past.
The objective of Ice Memory Foundation is to sample 20 glaciers in 20 years so that future generations of scientists will have access to undamaged high-quality ice cores to pursue their research and have data to understand the Earth's climate.
As of 2025, the Ice Memory Foundation would be storing glacier samples from Europe, Bolivia, and Eurasia Russia in Europe, while waiting for Antarctic storage to become available.
Co-founder of the Ice Memory Foundation, Jérome Chappellaz says that teams will collect ice from other sites, including Rocky mountains (Canada/ USA), Himalaya plateau (Tadjikistan, Pakistan, China), Andes plateau (Peru, Argentina), Heard island (Australia), as soon as possible, facing the accelerating rate of melting.[9]
The Ice Memory heritage ice cores will be safeguarded for centuries in Antarctica. A dedicated sanctuary will be built at the French-Italian Concordia station, an international station on the Antarctic Plateau that allows natural storage at -50 °C.
First tests of the cave have been jointly managed by IPEV and PNRA. The first cave should be available for the first Ice Memory cores in 2025. Located close to the Concordia Station, the storage site will cover a surface area equivalent to approximately twenty 20-foot containers, or approximately 300 m2.
Despite the added complexity of transporting the ice cores to Antarctica, this choice will allow a long-term preservation of the samples using natural storage with no energy consumption required for refrigeration thereby protecting the precious samples from any risk of disrupted cold chain (technical problems, economic crisis, conflict, acts of terrorism, etc.).
Difficult access to the samples, combined with restrictive Antarctic logistics will prevent an over-use of the cores. At last, the storage in a polar region managed via the Antarctic Treaty, prevents territorial claims as they are frozen, as signed by the world's major nations.
The Ice Memory Foundation was officially created by seven major French, Italian, and Swiss scientific institutions in 2021: the CNRS, the IRD, University Grenoble Alpes, and the French Polar Institute (IPEV) in France; the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in Italy; and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland and is sheltered by University Grenoble Alpes Foundation.
Located in France at Université Grenoble Alpes, it aims to collect, save and manage ice cores from selected glaciers in the world currently melting, with their yielded information for decades and centuries to come.
The Foundation is directed by Anne Catherine Olhmann since 2015.
International long term governance
The Honorary President of the Ice Memory Foundation is His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco.
The Foundation's governance is international, with members from France, Italy, Switzerland, China, and the United States, including two former Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Vice Presidents, Qin Dahe and Jean Jouzel.
A long term governance over the next centuries, ensuring the preservation and the proper use of this Humanity heritage, is investigated in cooperation with International Institutions, notably UNESCO and Antarctic Treaty System (ATCM).
In 2023 at One Planet Polar Summit in Paris,[10] the Ice Memory Law and Governance Chair was launched to establish proposals for filling existing legal gaps and to propose a legal framework for the development of the Ice Memory heritage.
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