Future Antarctic geological drilling: Discussion paper on ANDRILL and beyond

Geological drilling technology developed over the last quarter century has provided access to critical knowledge on the climatic and tectonic history of the Victoria Land margin of Antarctica, giving us a new understanding of the history and behaviour of the Antarctic ice sheet in this region over the last 34 million years. The challenge now is to develop a framework within the Antarctic science and logistics communities and other relevant groups for further projects to extend this technology to other areas both around the Antarctic margin and into the interior. This paper reviews some of the issues and offers a way forward