2008
Blue Planet Prize
Dr. Claude Lorius(France)

Professor José Goldemberg(Brazil)

Director Emeritus of Research, CNRSMember of the French Academy of Sciences

Professor, Institute of Electrotechnics andEnergy, University of São PauloFormer Rector, University of São PauloNAVIGATION:
Our Planet
The Blue Planet where all of us live
Carrying life in infinite numbers
Journeying towards the eternal universe
Do we mankind impose ourselves
To deeply think
Of the blue spaceship of life
Where it is going?
Given life on this planet
A tiny life
Although tiny, are we been responsible?
To care for others
Helping each otherFor the destination
Of the “Ship of Life” Earth
We sincerely hopeThat the film
Helps you
In letting you think
Of the wake of the “Ship of Life” EarthOf the destination of the Blue Planet

Selected from the Slide Show Presented at the Openingof the Awards Ceremony
103

Their Imperial Highnesses Prince andPrincess Akishino at the Awards Ceremony
His Imperial Highness Prince Akishino congratulates
the laureates

Dr. Jiro Kondo, Chairman of the Presentation
Committee makes a toast
at the Congratulatory Party

Hiromichi Seya, Chairman of the Foundationdelivers the opening address

Dr. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa,
Chairman of the Selection Committee explains
the rationale for the determination of the year's
winners
Ambassador Mr. Philippe Faure of the French
Republic (left) and Ambassador Mr. Luiz Augusto
Castro Neves of the Federative Republic of Brazil,
congratulate the laureates

The prizewinners receive their trophies from Chairman Seya

Dr. Claude Lorius
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Professor José Goldemberg

Profile

Dr. Claude Lorius
Director Emeritus of Research, CNRSMember of the French Academy of Sciences
Education and Academic and Professional Activities
1932
Born in Besançon, France
1955
Researcher, Antarctic Committee, National Center for Scientific Research
1957-1958 Participated in the IGY Antarctic Expedition
1961
Researcher, CNRS
1962
Earned doctorate degree from the Sorbonne University
1979-1983 Associate Director, Laboratory of Glaciology and Geophysics of the Environment (LGGE)
1983-1988 Director, LGGE
1984-1986 Chairman, French Polar Expeditions
1986-1990 Chairman, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (ICSU)
1987-1994 Corresponding member, French Academy of Sciences
1989
Humbold Prize
1989
Belgica Medal
1992-1998 President, French Institute of Polar Research and Technology
1993-1995 Chairman of EPICA Project
1994Member, French Academy of Sciences
1994
Italgas Prize
1996
Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
1997
Seligman Crystal (International Glaciological Society)
1998Director Emeritus of Research, CNRS
2001
Balzan Prize for climatology
2002
The CNRS Medaille d’Or
2004
Petit Larousse illustré
2006
EGU Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky Medal
2008
SCAR medal(As of June, 2008)
Dr. Lorius was born in Besançon, France in 1932 and received his bachelor’s degree in physics
in 1953. He began his research career in glaciology and climate change where he lateraccomplished many outstanding achievements by applying to an ad posted on the walls of the
University of Besançon in 1955 which read “Needed: young researchers to join scientificexpeditions organized in conjunction with the International Geophysical Year.”In 1957, as a fresh initiate in the emerging science of glaciology, he spent the winter at
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Charcot Station, a small base camp perched in Antarctica at 2,400 meters elevation with twocolleagues. He returned to Antarctica in 1959, joining the US Victoria Land Traverse
Exploration and came up with an idea of obtaining the temperature of the air from themeasurement of the oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of ‘solid water’ ice. Furthering the idea
provided means of characterizing the successive seasonal layers of ice and an ice flow tracer,
which enabled him to reconstitute past climate change and dating.
Afterwards, while leading the 1965 wintering-over team to the coastal base at AdelieLand, making casual observation of ice cubes melt in a glass of whisky and seeing the air
bubbles trapped in the ice burst, Dr. Lorius came up with an idea of analyzing them. He
thought that they would hold vital information of the composition of the air. After 1968, he
proposed original ideas such as that to use crystal size in the field as an indicator of past
climate change, and the information obtained from analyzing the ice sheets disclosed not only
the climate but also information on the atmospheric environment.
Since 1974, Dr. Lorius began the hard work lasting several years at Dome Concorde, ahigh plateau located in central Antarctica, and in 1978 succeeded in drilling to a depth of 900
meters. By analyzing the ice sheet core, it was revealed that the bottom ice was to be about
35,000 years old, that the end of the last ice age was about 20,000 years ago and that thesubsequent warm period had now lasted for 10,000 years.
In order to further conduct an analysis, there was a need to obtain older ice samples, andfortunately at the most remote and coldest station on earth Vostok of USSR, another series ofcore samples obtained by drilling 2,200 meters deep existed. Lucky for Dr. Lorius and his twocompanions, with the support from the Arctic and Antarctic Institute of Leningrad, theGeographic Institute of Moscow, and the National Science Foundation (USA), they were able
to set foot on Vostok station in the midst of the cold war in 1984. Information obtained fromthe ice core were more than expected and for the first time a series of results undisturbed byany ice flow for over 150,000 years included all the last climatic cycle which took place in thequaternary era. Once back in France, Dr. Lorius gathered a squad of specialists and conducteda thorough study on the samples he brought back. As a result, it was disclosed that a long ice
age occurred between the current interglacial period and the interglacial that existed about
120,000 years ago. The close correlation between atmospheric concentration of methane andcarbon dioxide and climatic change during glacial and interglacial periods became a hot topic
and the results were introduced in the editorial and other articles in Nature in 1987, also
decorating the cover of the journal.
In 1989, Dr. Lorius was requested to reorganize polar research and established theFrench Institute of Polar Research and Technology (IFRTP) becoming the first president in1992. While continuing his own research activities, he put efforts in planning Antarctic ice
sheet deep drilling program at the international level.
In 1998, the joint team of Russia-France-USA reached at Vostok the depth of 3,623
meters and obtained a continuous ice sheet record for the past 420,000 years. Dr. Lorius
recognized that there were four long cold and relatively shorter warm periods, namely glacial
and interglacial periods, along this time scale and disclosed that during those periods
atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide fluctuated between minimum 200ppm (parts per

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million) and maximum 300ppm; during the last deglaciation carbon dioxide concentration
increased by 40% and methane gas level doubled. Current atmospheric concentration ofcarbon dioxide has now reached almost 390 ppm and is increasing further. Dr. Lorius describesthat the results obtained from the research on past glacial records gives credit to thosearguments that the earth will continue to warm up through the 21st century and might
potentially cause a disastrous effect on water supply, agriculture, health, biodiversity andhuman living conditions in general.
Dr. Lorius has made a total of 22 summer and winter expeditions to the polar ice sheets
in Greenland and particularly in Antarctica, which represents more than six years spent in the
Polar Regions. As operations in Antarctica, ice core analysis and interpretation require a lot of
people’s cooperation and participation, various achievements accomplished could be said tobe those of the group he led, but without Dr. Lorius’s highly prominent perspective, tenacityand organizational skill in forming international teams as a researcher, such research results
could not be achieved so early.
From ice core studies, Dr Lorius believes we now entered in a new era, the “anthropocene”, in which humans control the environment of our planet which is now a major andurgent international challenge. He has stated that although alarm raised was heard in case of
the ozone layer depletion and some improvement had been noted, for the issue on climate only
statements of intention had been heard so far, and that we have to maintain the pressure toensure new technologies are developed and human attitudes continue to evolve.

107Lecture

Climate and Environment– 50 years of Adventures and Research in Antarctica –Dr. Claude Lorius
50 years of adventures and research in Antarctica
Fifty years ago, I was first attracted by the human experience in the polar ice areas. My passion
for research would come when we made our first discoveries, while exploring the mysteries ofice. Thanks to ice drillings, we aimed at going back in the past so as to discover the climate
and environment of old times; a research that led us to the heart of one of the greatest challenges
in our modern society. I would like to share with you this path on the field and in our research.
I hope I could show you that polar ice are both survivors and guards of the earth climate andenvironment.
Based on missions, works and thoughts about polar ice, this presentation is three-fold:Climate: past and future
Global Environment Mankind and Anthropocene
We will thus discover the Anthropocene epoch, a new era in which Mankind is responsible fordamaging its own environment.
Slide 1* - The white planet: from pole to pole
Snow and ice spread over huge surfaces. In the Arctic, the pack ice is thin and formed byfrozen sea water. It spans over 15 million square kilometres in winter and stays until summer
as it is surrounded by a continental belt. However, the ice pack almost totally disappears
during the hot season in the widely opened austral ocean. In both poles, huge ice sheets lay on
bedrock: Greenland (over 2 million square kilometres) and Antarctica (its surface area is 12.3
million square kilometres which is bigger than Europe and about 30 times that of Japan).
While the melting of the ice pack doesn’t change the sea level, it is not the case with ice sheets:
they contain such great volumes of ice that they would cause a sea level rise of more than 70
metres if they disappear.
Slide 2 - Polar ice “archives”
Ice sheets shelter unique archives, or records, on the history of our climate and atmosphere.
Ice is solid water (H2O) and contains isotopes. Isotope concentration in ice indicates thetemperature at the time of ice formation. While filtering it, we collect the minuscule dust
which has settled with snow. The dust can have natural origins (continental dust, sea salts,
volcanic eruptions...) or can be linked to pollution (lead, radioactive wastes...) and thus
measuring its magnitude becomes possible. Concentration of impurities is very low andrequires sophisticated equipments for chemical measurements. If other types of archives do
108* There are supplement slides at the back of the section.

exist on climate and pollution, ice holds a unique treasure with the air bubbles trapped in it:
they are the only testimony of the atmosphere composition.
To date the ice, the easiest way is to count the annual layers, but this method quickly
reaches its limits. Some events such as nuclear tests and volcanic eruptions can identify certain
levels. To go further glaciologists have developed models that can wedge in comparison with
better dated marine sediments or from the calendar of astronomers who punctuate climatic
variations. Just recently glaciologists were able to detect on EPICA (European Project for Ice
Coring in Antarctica) ice cores traces of the reversal of the magnetic field that occurred
780,000 years ago; a godsend to re-schedule the archives.
Slide 3 - Antarctica: 50 years of ice drilling
After the IGY (International Geophysical Year, 1957-58), glaciologists have carried out deep
coring across Antarctica: the Americans (Byrd), the French and Europeans (Dome C), theRussians (Vostok) and the Japanese (Dome F). All along the years, as the ice drillings went on,
more and more ancient periods began to emerge; core samples of only 10 centimetres indiameter will be our memory from the past.
Mechanical properties of ice and low temperatures require glaciologists to develop a specifictechnology to get ice cores. This is a complex, delicate craft and which needs constant attention. Engine, pumps, electronics are integrated into a drill suspended on a cable guided fromthe surface to get samples a few metres long. In it’s slow getting down and up in a fluid thatwill avoid the closure of the hole it will know many failures and sometimes break down.
Slide 4 - Eastern Antarctica: 50 years of missions
Cold sites, with slight slow accumulation and undisturbed ice flow, contain long-term archives
but they are situated in central areas hard to reach. Thanks to the logistic support mostly
provided by the Americans and Russians, for French and Europeans these areas became
reachable. In a white desert spreading over 5 million square kilometres, we used ski-equipped
planes and tracked snow tractors to lead the survey. Then, we carried out the ice drillings withheavy means and larger teams were organized. To lead such projects, international collaboration,
also based on friendship, was necessary to help us with providing heavy transportationequipment.
1956: Towards Terra Incognita
For the IGY, 12 countries, among which were Japan and France, combined their efforts tostudy the last continent almost entirely virgin: Antarctica. They set up 48 stations, among
which 4 were on the ice sheet. The aim was to study the magnetic field and polar lights while
the first satellites were launched into space; climatology, glaciology, a new branch of science,and exploration traverses were also planned.
1957: Overwintering at Charcot station
I spent one year with two workmates in a small station of 25 square metre, buried beneath thesnow at an elevation of 2,400 metres, where the average temperature is -40°C. At that time,109Charcot was then one of the few inland stations that had ever been set up.
1957: Overwintering at Charcot station
On the horizon, nothing but a white desert and for months we would not have any ways ofcommunicating with the coastal station and our far away families. My research concerned the“heat balance”, so as to understand why Antarctica is such a cold continent. This overwintering
was a beautiful adventure, a physical and a human experience. After adapting myself again to
civilization and to viruses contained in our atmosphere, I knew that I would come back.
1959: Victoria Land Traverse
After a year spent in France, I went back to the great South to take part in an American
exploration traverse on Victoria Land, east of Adelie Land. Flying from New Zealand, we
arrived on October 19th, 1959 at Mac Murdo, overlooked by Mount Erebus volcano. With six
American, one New Zealander and one Dutch scientists, we covered 2,500 kilometres in 119
days, using tracked vehicles, thus opening a new track in the discovering of the inland ice.
1959: Victoria Land Traverse
We met with many difficulties and surprises: a hard access to the plateau among crevasses,
engine troubles, cold and blizzards but also the discovery of a mountain range with Mount
Lorius mentioned in the American atlas. A powerful scene in my memory: the opening of a“mail box” attached to a marker at the furthest southern point that had been reached by myFrench fellows of the IGY, two years before.
1957-59: Records from decades to centuries
At Charcot station, we dug snow pits of several metres deep to observe the sequence of summer
snow, less dense and formed by bigger crystals than winter snow packed down by the wind ; asimple way to get the age of the latest layers and data on snow accumulation. In central
regions, where it doesn’t snow very much, we can thus sample almost a century of records.
Hand drillings: towards the millennium
During the traverses, we made several stops for a few hours, sheltered from the wind by snow
tractors and we carried out hand drillings from 10 to 20 metre deep, leading us further on in
the past. Going deeper, we observed a progressive decrease of the range of the seasonal cycleof temperatures. A thermometer put at the bottom of the holes would give us the averageannual temperature of the different sites we were exploring. Seismic shots showed that ice
could be over 4,000 metres thick.
Slide 5 - The “isotopic thermometer”
The core samples collected during those missions were analyzed as soon as we went back to
our laboratories. Snow and ice are solid water (H2O) which isotopic composition can bemeasured and expressed by the concentration ratio 18O/16O or D/H. Comparing these ratioswith temperatures found on the field led to a real discovery: the temperature at the time that110

snow precipitation formed, left signs that analyses managed to decipher. This correlation
would allow us to describe the climate thanks to samples of deep ancient ice.
At the core of polar ice: depths and ages
The quality of an ice drilling site depends on several elements: snow falls and temperatures,
elevation and bedrock relief, thickness and ice flow of ice; these data, integrated into modelling,
indicate the ages of ice that we could find in the depths. Cold sites, with low accumulation,
deep and undisturbed ice flow, are situated in central areas, thus hard to reach. But this iswhere we would have to go to extract ancient records of the climate, where it will take hundredsof thousands of years for one tiny snow flake to reach the sea and melt. If more recent times
are at stake, we would choose stations with higher accumulation in which it is easier to decipher
the environment of our century.
Deep ice drillings
We developed drilling equipment when we carried out coring in the coastal ice of Adelie Land
where I overwintered in 1965. One summer evening, our small glaciologist’s team gathered inour caravan used as our shelter. We were sharing a relaxing moment, washed down withglasses of lukewarm whisky, in which we put - what a sacrilegious act! - bits of ice samples
drilled from about a hundred metre deep. They melted...when we saw the air bubbles explodedin our glasses, released from their pressure; it came to our mind that these gases were perhaps
testimonies of ancient atmospheres composition. But many years would be necessary for ourteam to prove the validity of the idea. Analyzing them would be a technical challenge but
would “revolutionize” our understanding of the evolution of the earth climate.
In the last 30 years, deep ice drillings
After the site surveys, the deep ice drillings, that I am to talk about, would be carried out from1977; firstly at Dome C, then in Vostok, and finally at Dome C again.
1974-1978: Ice drilling at Dome C
Within the context of the International Antarctic Glaciological Program, the American andEnglish radar coverage identified an interesting drilling site at an elevation of 3,250 metres,
where ice would be about 3,000 metres thick. We tried to reach this point from the Frenchcoastal station of Dumont d’Urville which is located more than 1,100 kilometres away. Two
successive missions failed in this attempt but they allowed us to explore new territories.
1974: Leading site survey at Dome C
To obtain data on the spot, the U.S. Air Force embarked from Mac Murdo station a small teamwith 4 French, one American and one Russian, equipped with tents and snowmobiles. Afterone week of acclimatization at the South Pole station, we landed in December 1974 at DomeC where it was -35°C in the middle of summer. In a couple of weeks, we were able to gather
information on snow accumulation (10 centimetres) and ice flow speed lower than a few
metres per year: favourable features for ice drilling.

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1974: Leading site surveys at Dome C
The end of the mission happened to be difficult, as two C-130 planes that were supposed topick us up, crashed one after the other, while taking off. On the chaotic surface of sastrugi, thetake-off assist rockets exploded, destroying skis and wings of the planes. After the last flightto assess the damages on the planes, that I well remember as I was petrified with fear, we were
all back safe at Mac Murdo. Data confirmed that the site was promising but at that time, we
did not expect to come back there. The Americans would manage to get back the damaged
planes, and that was a real achievement.
Slide 6 - 1977: 900m deep ice drilling at Dome C
Three years after our first steps at Dome C, the Americans embarked our team of 13 people
formed by drillers, technicians, researchers, a doctor and a cook, and tons of equipment. This
ice drilling mission was a success as it reached 900 metres deep in two months; the maximum
reachable depth without using any fluid. On the spot, we studied ice crystals and we found outthat their size is correlated to the climate evolution, their growth being faster during hot periods
than cold periods.
When we got back, we were able to describe the end of the last ice age era which took
place about 20,000 years ago, and the beginning of the hotter climate of Holocene that we haveexperienced for ten thousand years now.
Although many other missions may be more fruitful with the drilling at Dome C, the risks andjoy of this campaign that I experienced made us stand out in the very closed circle of nations
who have carried out deep drilling in polar regions and shown its analyses capacity.
Vostok: the 1980’s and 1990’s
For a long time, I had been dreaming to go to the Soviet station, at the heart of Antarctica. The
Cold War was threatening international relations but it did not prevent encounters andfriendships between researchers on Antarctica. On December 31st 1984, a C-130 plane fromthe US Air Force brought three French glaciologists to Vostok station where Soviets were ice
drilling. In ice caves, dug into the snow, they had stored core samples that had been extracted
for years. This collaboration would last for years, giving access to samples spanning over
420,000 years.
The cold pole of the EarthA temperature of -89°C was recorded at Vostok station, where polar night lasts for longmonths. The station had a Spartan-like comfort, where everyone spoke only Russian, there
was no running water and supplies were scarce before the team change-off. But we had
everything needed in the trunks that we brought to carry the core samples back. In the smallrooms dug in the snow, we spent warm evenings with those who had overwintered and who
had left their families for more than a year.
Slide 7 - 1984: Vostok, 150,000-year-old records
We were hoping for it: studying 2,083 metres of ice core revealed a 150,000-year-old history112

about climate and atmosphere composition. All along hot and cold periods stretching along
the last great natural climatic cycle, we showed, for the first time, the correlation between
climate and concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. On a very large time scale,
before human beings presence, natural climatic variations were caused by the earth’s patharound the sun, during which it receives more or less energy according to its position. The pathtaken by our planet entails long hot and cold periods, modifying greenhouse gases concentration in the atmosphere in such a way that these gases accentuate significantly climate
variations. A breakthrough, to which the Soviets and the Americans were associated, allowed
us to announce, 20 years before now, the current global warming, caused by human activities
which send out large quantities of greenhouse gases.
The cover of the prestigious Nature magazine with a comment describing these archives“cornucopia”, was a recognition for our team and me; at this time I was elected as a memberof the Academy of Sciences.
Slide 8 - 1998 Vostok: 420,000-year-old records
In 1998, ice drilling reached a depth of 3,623 metres where ice is 420,000 years old. Results
are comforting evidence of the three fold correlation between climate, greenhouse gases andsea level and give a coherent explanation on large natural variations in our Quaternary climate.
The average temperature change on Earth between ice ages and hot periods is 5°C, leading to
sea level variations of 120 metres, caused by expansion or melting of the ice sheets. This
testimony of old ice helps us to explain the current climatic warming and estimate the futureone.
Dome C, Vostok, Dome Fuji: climate variability
These studies were also successfully led by the Japanese, on the other side of the continent, at
Fuji Dome where they got a climatic record of 330,000 years old. On this time scale,comparison with data obtained from Vostok and Dome C gives a consistent picture of climate
variability and reinforces the sense of getting a sample core as we hoped at the time of theDome C and Vostok records.
Dome C- Epica, 800,000-year-old records
Near Dome C where we ice drilled 30 years before, twelve European countries reached the
bedrock at a depth of 2,871 metres, in 2004, within the project EPICA. The link climategreenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and methane) is still striking and show that the earth
atmosphere has never known such high concentrations of greenhouse gases as today, for
800,000 years. We notice variations in both duration and amplitude of hot and cold periods,
thus opening new paths for research on our future climate.
From 1974 to 2004: Dome C
This image illustrates the progress made in thirty years. We have moved from exploration to
800,000 years of archives. A great satisfaction for us, and I who initiated these two projects.

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Slide 9 - 1,000 years: CO2 and global warming
To come back to our day and age, data on the last millennium show a warming of nearly 1°C,
observed for a hundred years comes essentially from CO2 and other greenhouse gases ofanthropic origins. In this context, what of our white planet? Our glaciers will go on declining,or even disappear for the most vulnerable ones.
To go off the tracks of my research field, I would like to present now some images of theconsequences, even if they may still be moderate today, of global warming on polar areas,
hoping I would heighten your awareness of a less austere side of our expeditions.
Climatic warming and ice pack
Satellite imagery shows the ice pack retreat in the Arctic between the end of summers 1979
and 2005. With climatic warming, new navigation routes thus open between the Atlantic and
the Pacific oceans, intensifying commercial transportation and access to new sea fishing areas.
The retreat which seems to accelerate will make easier exploitation of the sea bed that treasuressignificant hydrocarbon and gas resources. This has already aroused clashes of interests
between the five bordering countries of the North pole.
Climatic warming and Inuit populations
Ancestral hunting people, Inuit populations suffer from the ice pack fragility which makes it
dangerous for them to hunt seals and polar bears on which they live. It also reduces the social
contacts in a society already not very numerous and spread over coastal areas, traditionallylinked with dog-sledging. In this case, climatic warming is at the source of real culturalchanges.
Climatic warming and polar bears
As their silhouettes are an icon of the great North, polar bears need a stable ice pack to reach
their preys, i.e. seals, and to ensure the living of their cubs. The 20 to 25,000 polar bears havethus joined the black list of threatened species.
Climatic warming and Emperor penguins
A symbolic figure, with its unsteady gait, of the great South, Emperor penguins depend on theice pack stability too, as they must ensure the survival of their chicks during winter because
the latter won’t be able to feed themselves in the sea as long as they keep their fluff. But this is
not an urgent concern thanks to the cold temperature in this season in Antarctica.
Slide 10 - Temperature: past and future
The temperature increase predicted at the end of our century can vary from about 2°C to morethan 6°C, a large range due to uncertainties concerning our knowledge about how the climatic
system works and to our choice of future energies. It is necessary to remind us of the effect ofpast temperature changes: the average variations of 5°C have shaped quite different landscapeson our planet. It was thus white-coated during the last ice age. In the future, it could be partly
covered with water.

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Slide 11 - Climatic warming and sea level
Because of continental ice melting, sea level would rise from 10 centimetres to 1 metre at theend of this century. This is not a very accurate estimation because it mostly depends on the
future of ice sheets. The first signs of significant melting appeared on Greenland and its
expansion is visible through satellite images: a faster increase of melting could be feared.
Much colder, Antarctica seems less vulnerable except for its hotter area, the Antarctic
peninsula. Threats exist but on a very long-term scale considering the impressive ice masses,
unless more sudden variations occur, in relation with the instability of some glaciers of whichbasis is located under the sea level.
Antarctica: glaciers and mass balance
From space, we can see “ice rivers” in central areas of Antarctica, flowing towards the sea. The
mass balance of inland ice, i.e. the difference between snow accumulation and loss, due toglaciers flow and melting in coastal areas, is not yet well known. All the more since atemperature rise could increase snowfalls, thus slowing down the increase of sea level. This is
one of several uncertainties for a faraway future, its ice volume representing the equivalent of
70 metres.
Ice and climate, a close link
As we have seen, ice and climate have a common destiny. Spreading over tens of millions ofsquare kilometres, the white planet is both a testimony and a key element of the climate
evolution. It is a testimony as ice expands in cold climate and melts in hot climate; it is a key
element as it sends back towards space a more or less significant part of its energy received
from the sun, according to the size of its surface, and thus it causes a decrease of temperatures
or on the contrary in hot season. Thus, polar ice expansion shows and accentuates the climate
evolution; a link more or less close according to its fragility which depends on its thickness.
Because of the ice pack, Arctic warming is twice or three times more important than anywhere
else on earth and, in fact, this foreshadows our tomorrow’s climate.
50 years of adventures and research in Antarctica
Thanks to the discovery of secrets deeply buried in the ice records, we changed our views on
the future climate. Moreover, polar ice contains many other information about our environment;
a topic that I would like to develop now.
North pole - South pole: only one planet
In a few months time, going from pole to pole during my training to become a glaciologist, I
discovered aurora polaris. These beautiful coloured veils are created by the collision between
solar wind particles and our atmosphere, in a zone defined by the magnetic field that surrounds
the earth; without this magnetic field, life would have never grown up on earth. From this time,
before I became familiar with our earth and oceans, I realized that we have only one single
planet.

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North pole - South pole: only one atmosphere
Even before meteorologists scrutinized the atmosphere, early naturalist explorers discovered
this fact, just from observing the migration of Arctic stern from the great North to the greatSouth.
Slide 12 - Hemisphere pollution: Greenland 1
Sulphates concentration measured in Greenland snow have significantly increased since the1900’s and are an indicator of pollution at one hemisphere scale. Sulphates, to be blamed forarctic fogs, are naturally produced (sea salts, volcanic eruptions...), but they also come fromcoal combustion. This latter source is at the origins of the observed increase, whereas therecent decrease is due to the filtration of carbon emission in our biggest cities.
Slide 13 - Hemisphere pollution: Greenland 2
The evolution of the concentration of another polluter is also measured in Greenland snow:
lead. It’s rise is originally the result of industrial activities; but since the 1930’s, it is the leadbased additives in gasoline used in industrialized countries that lead to concentrations of about
200 times the standard natural level of the early 19th century. With the use of unleaded
gasoline, the concentration of this short-term life aerosol is in decrease but it will take decades
before ice records attest a come-back to a less contaminated air.
Global pollution: radioactivity
In the early 1970’s, I got really shocked when I discovered in South pole snow, fallout fromradioactive wastes, sent out during nuclear explosions in the northern hemisphere. It was theevidence of a global atmosphere on Earth. For instance, we measured a strong peak in theyears 1964-65, caused by tests carried out two or three years before in the other hemisphere.
The signal was strong enough to manage to date the layers of recent snow. Radioactive halflifeof tagging-agents such as strontium 90 and cesium 137 is around 20 years, which allows timeto erase little by little evidence of irresponsible behaviours.
Slide 14 - Global pollution: “the ozone hole”
While ozone in the air that human beings breathe at ground level is dangerous for health, theabundant ozone present in the stratosphere is very crucial. Because it absorbs UV radiation
before it reaches the earth surface, ozone protects life on our planet. And again as a proof of a
global pollution, Antarctica is the place where researchers discovered the “ozone hole” caused
by Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) emitted by industrialized countries in the northern hemisphere.
The “ozone hole” shows the consequences, sometimes unpredictable, of human activities on
our global environment. The Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987, then extended to 190 countries
in 2007, should lead to a drastic decrease of emissions and, hopefully, to a reduction of the“ozone hole”.
North pole - South pole: only one ocean
During their travels around our blue planet, naturalist explorers saw the hump-back whale116

from North to South, deducing from their observations the idea that there is only one ocean.
Global pollution: sea as a dust-bin
The ocean, cradle of terrestrial life, is now threatened by numerous pollutions. Here, soiling ismore localized, oil dumpings reach the beaches and their fauna, while nuclear-powered
submarines lying at the bottom of the Arctic water are a danger for the future. It is moredifficult to give a global-scale estimation but it seems that more than 40% of the oceans arehighly affected by human activities and that few sea areas remain virgin territories.
50 years of adventures and research in Antarctica: Mankind and Anthropocene
Since he first appeared, man has had to protect himself from nature to survive. First, he fed
himself with gathering and hunting, then with farming and breeding. Discovering fire, during
Holocene, was the starting point of greenhouse gases emissions; then, humans built towns togather themselves as the population was getting more and more numerous, while the industrial
era was beginning to take place. At that time, we entered Anthropocene, characterized byincreasing pollutions, man deeply leaving his mark on the natural environment which he lives
in. Warning signs came from polar areas, where almost no one lives and very far from thepollution sources.
Global warming challenges: human life conditions, resources, wars and conflicts
Global warming is the most urgent challenge that Anthropocene has given our societies to takeup. It is most probable that human life conditions will drastically change, under the pressureof storms and droughts and biodiversity loss.
Vital resources in fresh water and food will become scarce and our current sources ofenergy will run out. Wars and conflicts already existing will multiply, aroused by migrationsof a population looking for food or escaping sea floods. The first victims will be inhabitantsof poor countries, those who already have their feet in water or are living in dry deserts.
Climatic warming: what can be done?
City lights of the world seen from space clearly show imbalanced distribution of population,
activities and pollutions over our planet, for instance emphasized by the African night on one
hand and United States or European lights on the other hand. Obviously, there are possibilities
to reduce greenhouse gases emissions as several “Blue Planet” prize-winners proved it, amongwhom Professor José Goldemberg awarded this year. Among these possibilities, let us quoteenergy savings, lifestyle changes, research on climate and energies... But above all, people
must be made aware that a real international solidarity is essential. But unfortunately, this is
not the case today.
Climate and Environment: reactions
We like “burying our heads in the sand”. Too often, if politicians, policy-makers and citizens
agree on the necessity to protect our planet, they don’t dare to make the first move, leading toaction. Numerous reasons made them bury their heads in the sand.

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Environment: Mankind facing the challenge
On our everyday horizon, and on the one of polar ice, we don’t perceive the emergency toprotect our planet, and furthermore other issues that are at stake: health, AIDS, famine, ... and
we always hope, wrongly I think, that technological progress would make up for our consumption damages. In our private life, the quest of wealth, power and comfort justify our behaviour
as citizen; a behaviour that doesn’t make easy decisions from politicians and policy-makers,
acting under the public judgment.
Anthropocene: our tracks in the ice
Nobel prize-winner Paul J. Crutzen (1995) suggested the word “Anthropocene” to characterize
the new era which we entered, with pollutions entailed by human activities damage our environment on a global scale. An era in which dramatic rise is engraved in polar ice.
Slide 15 - CO2: the birth of Anthropocene
The CO2 content in atmosphere is an indicator that represents almost all the human activities,
as emissions are mostly due to the use of fossil fuels as an energy source. The concentrations,
measured during the last millennium in air bubbles trapped in Antarctic ice, are more or lessstable until the early 19th century; then, they increased faster and faster until now, reachinglevels representing a growth of 40%.
Environment and International GovernanceTo highly different extents, all citizens and countries are contributing to global warming andto environmental degradation. I think that solutions could be only found in the framework ofinternational governance, but this doesn’t seem to be realistic regarding our today’s context
with many conflicts. Maybe we would have to wait for genuine catastrophes which will leadman at the verge of chaos to make the governance possible; but why don’t we dream about afuture “Right for Environment”? Fifty years ago, scientists from the International GeophysicalYear managed to convince the governments to sign the Antarctic Treaty.
Let us be in Peace with Nature
As French hot desert explorer Theodore Monod said “Beyond the exploration and research led
to understand the world that surrounds us, it is also important to think of human behaviour
towards this small but so fragile sphere going around in the immensity of the Universe”. And
that is a short message that I would like to pass on, at the end of so many years of research inand about polar ice. It illustrates this drawing by Paul Emile Victor, founder of the French
Polar Expeditions, “Let’s be in peace with nature”.
In our hands, Our planet
This logo symbolizes our liability in the future of the environment, and thus, in the future of
our modern societies. To conclude this presentation, I would like to thank very simply but withmuch emotion, the “Blue Planet Prize” which aims at preserving our planet; I would like tothank all of you, ladies and gentlemen, who are here today. This gratitude, I am sure, holds in118

high regard ice researchers and backs them up in their willingness to achieve a “fundamental”
research which is at the same time so necessary to our civilization.

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Slide 1
The White Planet: from Pole to Pole

Slide 2
Polar Ice "Archives"

Slide 3
Antarctica: 50 Years of Ice Drilling120

Slide 4
Eastern Antarctica: 50 Years of Missions

Slide 5The "Isotopic Thermometer"

Slide 6
1977: 900m Deep Ice Drilling at Dome C

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Slide 7
1984: Vostok, 150,000-year-old Records

Slide 8
1998: Vostok, 420,000-year-old Records

Slide 91000 years: CO2 and Global Warming

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Slide 10
Temperature: Past and Future

Slide 11
Climatic Warming and Sea Level

Slide 12
Hemisphere Pollution: Greenland 1

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Slide 13
Hemisphere Pollution: Greenland 2

Slide 14
Global Pollution: "the Ozone Hole"

Slide 15
CO2: the Birth of Anthropocene

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