Beyond EPICA

EPICA is a multinational European project for deep ice core drilling in Antarctica. This new project named “Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice” is in its planning stages and Prof. Hubertus Fischer, (Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute & Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research) at the University of Bern asked me to design a visual representation of the project’s goals. The logo illustration is shaped like a drill bit and integrates a cross-section of Antarctica with thick ice above bedrock with small slices of younger and older ice core layers. It was an incredibly interesting project to work on and I really enjoyed trying to find a solution that represented so much information in one illustration.

Ice cores contain layers of frozen untarnished information about climate change over millions of years. The atmospheric composition can be analysed because the concentrations of the principal greenhouse gases, CO2, CH4 and N2O, are trapped in the ice. The first phase (1996 – 2006) focused on the last few glacial & inter-glacial cycles going back about 800,000 years by drilling 3,300 meter deep cores in East Antarctica. The goal now is to drill deeper in Antarctica to recover layers that could be up to two million years old.

Images like these of ice cores and the trapped layers inspired my visual design.

Save