Paleo Slide Set: Polar Ice Cores
3-D image of Vostok region

With an average annual temperature of -55 degrees C, Vostok Station is one 
of the most frigid places on Earth. Antarctic topography is dominated by enormous 
ice domes seated atop bedrock. This 3-D image shows Vostok and sites where shallower 
cores have been drilled. Vostok is located 3490 m above sea level at 78oS, 107oE. With 
accumulation rates significantly lower than in Greenland, ice at Vostok has piled up much 
more slowly. Indeed, ice at the bedrock contact over 3500 m below Vostok Station is estimated 
to be over 500,000 years old. 

Photo Credits:
Todd Sowers 
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), Columbia University, Palisades, New York.