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posted by n1 on Tuesday April 11 2017, @03:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the historical-slushies dept.

About an eighth of a University of Alberta collection of ice cores has melted due to a freezer malfunction:

A precious collection of ice cores from the Canadian Arctic has suffered a catastrophic meltdown. A freezer failure at a cold storage facility in Edmonton run by the University of Alberta (UA) caused 180 of the meter-long ice cylinders to melt, depriving scientists of some of the oldest records of climate change in Canada's far north.

The 2 April failure left "pools of water all over the floor and steam in the room," UA glaciologist Martin Sharp told ScienceInsider. "It was like a changing room in a swimming pool."

The melted cores represented 12.8% of the collection, which held 1408 samples taken from across the Canadian Arctic. The cores hold air bubbles, dust grains, pollen, and other evidence that can provide crucial information about past climates and environments, and inform predictions about the future.


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  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday April 11 2017, @11:30PM (1 child)

    by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday April 11 2017, @11:30PM (#492528) Journal

    I checked University of Alberta [ualberta.ca] own news ticker. Nothing..
    Embarrassing? ;)

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  • (Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday April 12 2017, @12:49AM

    by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Wednesday April 12 2017, @12:49AM (#492556)

    Looks like the story fell off that page already (published April 6th, most recent story is April 7th).