Falling Walls Falling Walls Science Summit 2023

Breaking the Walls to Dating Frozen Memories

Andrea Fischer

Physical Sciences

Andrea Fischer and colleagues present the first dating of glacier ice using less than 2 mL STP of argon from ∼5 kg of ice, finally opening the door for radioargon dating in glaciology. Alpine summit glaciers have a characteristic age range between 100 and 1,000 years. Reliable dating is the key to access this valuable environmental archive, including the Little Ice Age. Glacier ice contains past air and thus also the rare radioisotope 39Ar, uniquely suitable as an age tracer for this time span.

Tags: Climate change, Environment & Nature.

Andrea Fischer

Austrian Academy of Sciences

Andrea Fischer, born in 1973, studied physics and environmental sciences. In 2003 she obtained her PhD in the field of remote sensing of snow and ice at the Geophysics. After receiving the venia docendi in glaciology she now leads the Institute of Interdisciplinary Mountain Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Awarded as Austrian of the Year in the category research in 2013, outreach to the public and younger generation is an important part of her work – it’s not only connecting excellent research of different disciplines, but also people – for a sustainable future.

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