Ice core drilling on a high-elevation accumulation zone of Trambau Glacier in the Nepal Himalaya

Abstract

We drilled an 81.2-m-long ice core in the accumulation area (5860 m a.s.l.) of Trambau Glacier in the Rolwaling region during October-November 2019. The drilling operation was conducted with a lightweight electro-mechanical drill system after two reconnaissance fieldworks in 2017 and 2018, during which two shallow firn cores were drilled with a hand auger. The drill system and ice core samples were transported by helicopters at a high elevation of 6000 m a.s.l. A further challenging issue was the ice core transportation between Nepal and Japan, as no regular commercial flight was available for the frozen samples. The addition of dry ice imported from India immediately prior to leaving Nepal allowed the ice core samples to be successfully transported to a cold room in Japan, and remain in a frozen state. Stratigraphic observations during the drilling operation suggest the drill site has been affected by melting and refreezing.