In the quest to regain the world ’s oldest ice , scientists have successfully bore a 2,800 - meter ( 9,186 - foot ) long methamphetamine Congress of Racial Equality , reaching where the Antarctic ice sail meet bedrock . The incredible effort reveals a uninterrupted record of Earth ’s clime that dates back at least 1.2 million years .
The ice kernel was obtained from a remote site inAntarcticacalled Little Dome C by researcher from the “ Beyond EPICA - Oldest Ice ” undertaking , funded by the European Commission .
“ The right location was identified using cutting - edge radio sound reflection sound technologies and frappe flow modeling . Impressively , we found the record that goes from 0.8 to 1.2 million year ago , on the button where it was augur to be , in the deepness grasp between 2,426 and 2,490 meters [ 7,959 and 8,169 foot ] , extending our former twenty - year - erstwhile EPICA glass essence record , ” Frank Wilhelms , principal investigator in the field and joint professor at Göttingen University and the Alfred Wegener Institute , say in astatement .
Some of the team have lunch in November 2024.Image credit: Soussaintjean ©PNRA/IPEV
Antarctica is insure in extremely lumpy chalk sheet that sit ontop of continental bedrock . The latest pleasure trip by Beyond EPICA has reached the modulation point between ice and stone , which could provide authoritative clues about our planet ’s yesteryear .
Ice corescan provide perceptiveness into Earth ’s mood history because each level enamour atmospheric gas , dust , and isotopic compositions from the time it was imprint , allowing scientists to deduce preceding conditions .
“ From preliminary analyses record at Little Dome C , we have a strong denotation that the uppermost 2,480 meters [ 8,136 feet ] contain a climate record that goes back to 1.2 million year in a high - resolution record where up to 13,000 years are compressed into one meter of ice ” , explain Julien Westhoff , primary scientist in the field of operations and postdoc at Copenhagen University .
Obtaining these sample is a mammoth undertaking . In totality , the team has been work for over 200 days in the central Antarctic plateau at an altitude of 3,200 meter ( 10,498 foot ) above sea level where the average summertime temperature is -35 ° C ( -31 ° F ) .
Now , the task is tasked with the challenge of transport the ice core samples back to labs where they can be properly studied .
“ The precious ice core extracted during this run will be transported back to Europe on board the icebreaker Laura Bassi , exert the -50 ° C [ -58 ° F ] cold Ernst Boris Chain , a significant challenge for the logistics of the undertaking ” , said Gianluca Bianchi Fasani , senior researcher at ENEA - UTA ( National Agency for New Technologies , Energy , and Sustainable Economic Development - Antarctica Technical Unit ) and oral sex of ENEA logistics for Beyond EPICA .
