Beyond EPICA: old ice and the MPT

Co-organized by CR5, co-sponsored by PAGES

Convener: Eric Wolff | Co-conveners: Lisa ArdoinECSECS, Ailsa ChungECSECS, Abigail HudakECSECS, Margareta Hansson

Abstract submission

Over the last 1.5 Myr, the rhythm of Earth's glaciations changed from a 40 kyr to a 100 kyr periodicity, crossing the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT). The Beyond EPICA Project has recently collected a new ice core that reaches at least 1.2 million years, and analysis of trace gases, water isotopes and impurities will be carried out during winter 25/26. This session therefore acts as a showcase for the emerging results, which should shed new light on the causes and features of the MPT. Other international projects are also chasing old ice in Antarctica, either by deep coring or from cores in blue ice areas, and this session also offers the opportunity to present their progress and findings. More broadly we would welcome presentations using other proxies that address the MPT, as well as model studies providing insight into the dynamics and drivers of the Earth climate system across the MPT.