Teams of scientists from the U.S., Europe, and Australia are searching for the oldest ice samples in Antarctica to shed light on the Earth’s climate history.
A group of American researchers have been conducting a seven-week mission on the icy southern continent in an effort to understand better what the Earth was like millions of years ago. The Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX) project is one of many ongoing efforts to collect ice cores along the Antarctic ice sheet and expand what is known about climate history.
“The information that we get, particularly from ice cores, is just so critical to our bedrock understanding of how Earth’s climate works,” explained Peter Neff, COLDEX’s field research director, according to CBS News Texas.
Known as paleoclimatology, this scientific process measures carbon dioxide concentrations, models ice movements, and more to piece together a portrait of Earth’s historic temperatures and the impact of human activity.
“We don’t claim that by going back in time we’re necessarily going to see something exactly like what we’re seeing now,” Ed Brook, COLDEX’s director, said. “What we’re looking for are all the different ways the system can behave when it’s warmer.”
The oldest ice core ever found was from 2.7 million years ago — the start of the ice ages. However, the continuous ice core record stopped approximately 800,000 years ago, leaving much of Earth’s climate history filled with holes. Since the Antarctic ice sheet dates back over 30 million years, it remains the best bet for finding very old ice cores.
Extending the known climate record by collecting ice cores is a monumental project that could take several years.
If well-preserved, uninterrupted million-year-old ice layers are found, scientists must drill down to retrieve the core, pack it up so it doesn’t melt, and ship it to COLDEX partners, the National Science Foundation Ice Core Facility, for analysis in Colorado.