Scientists have made a major discovery that could solve an Ice Age mystery for the first time. They found what is likely the world’s oldest ice, dating back 1.2 million years. After working in extremely cold temperatures of -35°C for weeks, the team managed to extract a 1.7-mile-long ice core. This ice core is longer than eight Eiffel Towers stacked together or about six and a half times the height of the Empire State Building. It even reaches the bedrock beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
The core is being called a “time machine” because it holds an extraordinary record of Earth’s climate. Inside the ice, there are “ancient air bubbles” that could reveal how greenhouse gases, atmospheric chemicals, and dust levels have changed over time.
Scientists are hoping this discovery will help solve a major climate mystery: what happened 900,000 to 1.2 million years ago when glacial cycles were disrupted, and some researchers believe our ancestors almost went extinct. The air bubbles in the ice offer a snapshot of past atmospheric conditions, including greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. By studying these, scientists can learn how Earth’s climate responded to changes such as solar radiation, volcanic activity, and variations in Earth’s orbit.
The team faced some tense moments as they drilled deeper than expected, according to Dr. Robert Mulvaney, an ice core scientist with the British Antarctic Survey. The ice core was collected from one of the most extreme locations on Earth, Little Dome C, which is 21 miles from the Italian French Concordia research station. This research is expected to provide vital insights into how Earth’s climate has changed over the last 1.2 million years and beyond.