In a groundbreaking achievement, a team of international scientists has drilled an ice core from the Antarctic that dates back at least 1.2 million years. The core, obtained from a depth of nearly 2 miles (2.8 kilometers), provides invaluable insights into the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere and climate. This achievement is part of the Beyond EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica), a major scientific project aiming to delve deeper into Earth’s climatic past.
The EPICA Legacy
The EPICA project, which stands for the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica, has been instrumental in gathering critical data about the Earth’s climate history. Previously, a core was drilled from the Antarctic ice, revealing climate data from the past 800,000 years. However, the most recent drilling, which reached ice approximately 1.2 million years old, promises even more profound insights into the cycles of the Ice Age and the role of greenhouse gases in shaping the climate.
Mission and Goals
The primary mission of Beyond EPICA is to extract and analyze ancient ice cores from the Antarctic to understand the history of Earth’s climate and atmospheric conditions. This specific core is expected to shed light on how greenhouse gases, chemicals, and dust levels in the atmosphere have evolved over time, particularly during periods of warming and cooling. By studying this ancient ice, scientists hope to understand the relationship between atmospheric carbon and global temperature changes, providing clues about how our planet’s climate could evolve in the future.
Carlo Barbante, the Italian glaciologist and coordinator of Beyond EPICA, emphasizes the importance of this ice core in understanding how carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases have fluctuated in Earth’s atmosphere. The current levels of carbon dioxide are alarmingly higher than those seen in the last 800,000 years, and Barbante stresses the urgency of addressing this issue in the face of ongoing climate change.
Reference: ap
