Paleo Slide Set: Polar Ice Cores
Drs. Meier and Alley logging the core's annual layers and bubbliness at the NICL..

NICL is not just a storage facility. Rather, think of it as an archive, a library of sorts 
where scientists like the University of Colorado's Mark Meier and Pennsylvania State University's 
Richard Alley come to study crucial chapters in the Earth's climatic history. The purpose of NICL 
is to ensure that ice cores like those from GISP2 will continue to enlighten our understanding of 
our planet's past, present, and future climate system. (Note the annual dust layers visible in this core segment). 

Photo Credits:
Ken Abbott 
Office of Public Relations, University of Colorado, Boulder