This award provides support for a cooperative agreement for the operations and maintenance of the U.S. National Ice Core Laboratory, hereinafter called "NICL" a government-owned facility for storing, curating, and studying ice cores recovered from the ice-covered regions of the world. NICL provides NSF- and USGS-funded investigators with the capability to conduct examinations and measurements of ice cores while preserving the integrity of these cores in a safeguarded environment. NICL fosters the utilization of these cores for scientific research by handling inquiries from scientists interested in obtaining samples of ice cores, by making inventory listings easily available through electronic distribution, by acting as an information resource to the scientific community and by improving current technologies for ice core analysis in accordance with the needs and requirements of their client base. NICL is located at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, Colorado and is housed administratively within the USGS Office of the Central Regional Geologist, Geologic Discipline.
