TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dachwald, Bernd
A1  - Mikucki, Jill
A1  - Tulaczyk, Slawek
A1  - Digel, Ilya
A1  - Espe, Clemens
A1  - Feldmann, Marco
A1  - Francke, Gero
A1  - Kowalski, Julia
A1  - Xu, Changsheng
T1  - IceMole : A maneuverable probe for clean in situ analysis and sampling of subsurface ice and subglacial aquatic ecosystems
JF  - Annals of Glaciology
N2  - There is significant interest in sampling subglacial environments for geobiological studies, but they are difficult to access. Existing ice-drilling technologies make it cumbersome to maintain microbiologically clean access for sample acquisition and environmental stewardship of potentially fragile subglacial aquatic ecosystems. The IceMole is a maneuverable subsurface ice probe for clean in situ analysis and sampling of glacial ice and subglacial materials. The design is based on the novel concept of combining melting and mechanical propulsion. It can change melting direction by differential heating of the melting head and optional side-wall heaters. The first two prototypes were successfully tested between 2010 and 2012 on glaciers in Switzerland and Iceland. They demonstrated downward, horizontal and upward melting, as well as curve driving and dirt layer penetration. A more advanced probe is currently under development as part of the Enceladus Explorer (EnEx) project. It offers systems for obstacle avoidance, target detection, and navigation in ice. For the EnEx-IceMole, we will pay particular attention to clean protocols for the sampling of subglacial materials for biogeochemical analysis. We plan to use this probe for clean access into a unique subglacial aquatic environment at Blood Falls, Antarctica, with return of a subglacial brine sample.
KW  - Antarctic Glaciology
KW  - Extraterrestrial Glaciology
KW  - Glaciological instruments and methods
KW  - Subclacial exploration
KW  - Subglacial lakes
Y1  - 2014
U6  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2014AoG65A004
SN  - 1727-5644
VL  - 55
IS  - 65
SP  - 14
EP  - 22
PB  - Cambridge University Press
CY  - Cambridge
ER  -