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Did the Tyrolean Iceman Die in an Icy Crevasse or an Ice-Free Zone?
To find out more about the environment during the time when the Tyrolean Iceman lived the researchers analyzed two ice cores from ice frozen to the bedrock of the Weißseespitze summit glacier in the Ötztal Alps. Those ice cores were taken at a 3,500 meter (11,482.9 ft.) altitude and just 12 km (7.5 miles) from where the Iceman was found at a 3,210 meter (10,531.5 ft.) altitude.
The ice core drilling operation at Weißseespitze summit glacier. A special lightweight electromechanical drill was used to recover two ice cores. (Credit: Norbert Span/
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Alpine summits at 3,000 to 4,000 m may have been ice free until about 5,900 years ago, just before the lifetime of the Tyrolean Iceman (Oetzi), when new glaciers started to form, according to a study published in
Scientific Reports. The findings suggest that only the highest Alpine summits (4000 m and above) remained covered in ice for all of the current geological epoch, the Holocene, which began approximately 11,650 years ago.
Understanding how past glacier dynamics related to changes in climate, may help assess the pace of future glacier loss in the Alps, and previous research dated the oldest ice at some summits above 4,000m to 11,500 years ago.
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An independent panel of top scientists advising cabinet ministers will become a permanent feature of the nation s scientific infrastructure, despite at times issuing public advice that sharply conflicts with government policy.
The Rapid Research Information Forum, set up during the pandemic by the Australian Academy of Science and chaired by Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel, will become permanent thanks to a $400,000 donation.
The academy believes there is a major gap between science and government policy in Australia, which they hope the new venture can start to bridge.
Australian Academy of Science chief executive Anna-Maria Arabia (left) and research chair of Minderoo Foundation Fiona David.
Andrea Fischer
Glaciers in the Ötztal Alps in Austria are currently melting and may be lost within two decades, but this might not be the first time humans have seen this kind of change. A new analysis reveals that glaciers in this region formed just before or perhaps even within the lifetime of Ötzi the Iceman, a mummified body found just 12 kilometres away in 1991.
Pascal Bohleber at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and his colleagues drilled 11 metres into the Weißseespitze summit glacier, down to the bedrock, at 3500 metres altitude and collected two ice cores. They then used radiocarbon dating to analyse microscopic bits of organic material extracted from the ice cores and found that the glacier is 5200 to 6600 years old. Ötzi is thought to have lived between 5100 and 5300 years ago, and his body was found preserved in ice.