Articles | Volume 80, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-80-455-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-80-455-2025
Standard article
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19 Nov 2025
Standard article |  | 19 Nov 2025

Recovering environmental information from steep Alpine ice – development of a lightweight decametric ice corer and first use at Grandes Jorasses (4208 m a.s.l., Mont-Blanc massif)

Ludovic Ravanel, Romain Duphil, Emmanuel Malet, Christine Piot, Olivier Alemany, Xavier Cailhol, and Michel Fauquet

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Cited articles

Ambrosini, R., Azzoni, S. R., Pittino, F., Diolaiuti, G., Franzetti, A., and Parolini, M.: First evidence of microplastic contamination in the supraglacial debris of an alpine glacier, Environnemental Pollution, 253, 297–301, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.07.005, 2019. 
Arienzo, M. M., Legrand, M., Preunkert, S., Stohl, A., Chellman, N., Eckhardt, S., Gleason, K. E., and McConnell, J. R.: Alpine ice-core evidence of a large increase in vanadium and molybdenum pollution in Western Europe during the 20th century, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 126, e2020JD033211, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD033211, 2021. 
Bentley, C. R., Koci, B. R., Augustin, L. J.-M., Bolsey, R. J., Green, J. A., Kyne, J. D., Lebar, D. A., Mason, W. P., Shturmakov, A. J., Engelhardt, H. F., Harrison, W. D., Hecht, M. H., and Zagorodnov, V.: Ice drilling and coring, in: Drilling in extreme environments, edited by: Bar-Cohen, Y. and Zacny, K., Wiley, 221–308, https://doi.org/10.1002/9783527626625.ch4, 2009. 
Bohleber, P.: Alpine ice cores as climate and environmental archives, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.743, 2019. 
Bohleber, P., Hoffmann, H., Kerch, J., Sold, L., and Fischer, A.: Investigating cold based summit glaciers through direct access to the glacier base: a case study constraining the maximum age of Chli Titlis glacier, Switzerland, The Cryosphere, 12, 401–412, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-401-2018, 2018. 
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Short summary
Ice aprons are little-known ice masses on steep Alpine rock faces. They are also paleo-environmental archives as their ice is several thousand years old. A special corer has been developed to sample the ice before analysing it.
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