[Rockhounds] Scientists drill nearly 2 miles down to pull 1.2 million-year-old ice core from Antarctic

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

An international team of scientists announced Thursday they’ve successfully
drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet, penetrating nearly 2 miles (2.8
kilometers) to Antarctic bedrock to reach ice they say is at least 1.2
million years old.

Analysis of the ancient ice is expected to show how Earth’s atmosphere and
climate
<https://apnews.com/article/antarctic-ice-extreme-weather-climate-change-d9eff33e1acc06512e4e47156745237a>
have
evolved. That should provide insight into how Ice Age cycles have changed,
and may help in understanding how atmospheric carbon changed climate, they
said.

“Thanks to the ice core we will understand what has changed in terms of
greenhouse gases, chemicals and dusts in the atmosphere,” said Carlo
Barbante, an Italian glaciologist and coordinator of Beyond EPICA, the
project to obtain the core. Barbante also directs the Polar Science
Institute at Italy’s National Research Council.

The same team previously drilled a core about 800,000 years old. The latest
drilling went 2.8 kilometers (about 1.7 miles) deep, with a team of 16
scientists and support personnel drilling each summer over four years in
average temperatures of about minus-35 Celsius (minus-25.6 Fahrenheit).

https://apnews.com/article/antarctica-old-ice-core-climate-change-epica-6f76c57abf254dd9cb698f767db5507b