Antarctica made history as a team of researchers achieved a groundbreaking milestone in climate research. The Beyond EPICA-Oldest Ice project, funded by the European Commission and led by the Institute of Polar Sciences, successfully drilled a 2800-meter-long ice core from the Antarctic ice sheet. This remarkable ice core contains ice that is over 1.2 million years old, offering an unprecedented glimpse into Earth’s ancient climate and atmospheric history.
“We have a strong indication that the uppermost 2,480 meters contain a climate record that goes back to 1.2 million years,”
shared Julien Westhoff, chief scientist at Copenhagen University.
The international team of scientists embarked on their fourth Antarctic campaign at the remote ‘Little Dome C’ site to extract these invaluable ice samples. With representatives from twelve scientific institutions across ten European nations, this ambitious project aims to create a continuous record of Earth’s climatic evolution spanning over 1.2 million years.
“It was exciting to see the ice age as we drilled deeper…this record of 1.2 million-years will give us several 41,000-year glacial cycles to compare with the more recent data,”
expressed Dr. Robert Mulvaney from British Antarctic Survey.
Despite facing extreme conditions on the central Antarctic plateau with temperatures averaging -35°C during summer, the team persevered through more than two hundred days of drilling operations spread across four challenging field seasons. The meticulous planning involved identifying an ideal drilling site with just the right thickness of ice to preserve ancient layers without risking melting caused by geothermal heat.
The deepest sections of the ice core hold clues to Antarctica’s glaciation history and may even reveal evidence dating back further than known records – potentially shedding light on periods predating the Quaternary era over 2.58 million years ago.
“We needed a Goldilocks site…not too thick that the oldest ice had already melted away,”
explained Dr. Mulvaney regarding selecting the optimal drill location.
Once securely packed in specialized containers for transport to Europe, these precious ice samples will undergo extensive analysis to unlock secrets hidden within them. By studying historical atmospheric temperatures and preserved air samples containing greenhouse gases, scientists hope to reconstruct detailed narratives of past climatic shifts and better understand our planet’s environmental trajectory.
The successful retrieval and transportation mark only the beginning of what promises to be a transformative scientific journey into Earth’s deep past through its frozen archives.
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