International launch of the "Ice Memory" project

Mountain glaciers keep a record our climate and our environment, captured in ice. They are the only direct natural records we have of variations in atmospheric composition, a vital contribution to environmental and climate science. However, this memory of our planet's story is disapearing as many glaciers retreat unrelentingly throughout the world, because of climate change.

The Ice Memory project aims to constitute the first world library of archived glacier ice, to preserve this invaluable scientific heritage for the generations to come, when future techniques can obtain even more data from these samples.

An inauguration ceremony will mark the international launch of the Ice Memory project at UNESCO headquarters on Wednesday 8 March 2017. This inaugural day will be followed by two days of workshops moderated by international experts and UNESCO specialists, to establish a roadmap for the years to come.

This project, managed by the University of Grenoble Alpes Foundation in collaboration with numerous French and Italian partners such as the CNRS or the University of Venice, already benefit from a dynamic international community of scientists and more particularly of glaciologists.

The project is under the patronage of the French and Italian National Commissions for UNESCO.