Imagine cracking open a frozen time capsule that holds secrets from a world untouched for over a million years.
That’s exactly what scientists have done in Antarctica, drilling 1.7 miles into the ice to extract a core dating back at least 1.2 million years.
This ancient ice, pulled from Little Dome C near Concordia Research Station, could rewrite what we know about Earth’s climate history.
Researchers braved -25.6°F temperatures for four summers, finally reaching bedrock and pulling out a frozen column longer than eight stacked Eiffel Towers.
Why Scientists Are Drilling?
Carlo Barbante, head of the Beyond EPICA project, says the ice contains “tiny bubbles of air that our ancestors breathed a million years ago.”
These air pockets hold chemical clues about past greenhouse gas levels, showing how the planet’s climate has evolved.
With carbon dioxide levels now 50% higher than at any point in the last 800,000 years, scientists hope this discovery will help predict the future.
