Ice Core Sample

Ice core samples in hudson bay are used to tell the annual story of the ice. The top most layer of water freezes into ice and by doing so leaves a trace of it's salinity level.

To collect an ice core sample, community based researchers use a drill with a sharp blade at the bottom to cut a cylindrical "core" out of the ice. This can then be analyzed to give us evidence of salinity at different points in time because as the surface layer of water freezes, its salinity is recorded in the ice.

Other Ice core samples can also be used on glaciers to interpret “signals’ left in glacial ice that help inform us about past climates. However, most ice in Hudson Bay melts each year so ice core samples taken here pertain only to an single year.