A European research team has now made a breakthrough in research in Antarctica. The scientists drilled almost 2.8 kilometers deep and discovered an ice core that was at least 1.2 million years old. This is intended to provide information about the development of the atmosphere and climate on Earth.
The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), which is involved in the project, calls it a “historic milestone” for climate research. The longest continuous ice core to date, which was also found in Antarctica in 2004, went back about 800,000 years.
The new ice core is 2.8 kilometers long and was drilled into an ice dome on the Central Antarctic Plateau at an altitude of 3,200 meters above sea level during an EU-funded project. The analysis of such ancient ice layers makes it possible to draw conclusions about global climate history, such as the alternation between warm and ice ages.
Researchers hope to gain new insights
According to AWI, the distance between recurring ice ages suddenly increased significantly between 800,000 and 1.2 million years ago. Why this was the case is “still one of the greatest mysteries in climate science.” The analysis of the new drill core must now reveal this. The findings are also important for understanding future developments in the Earth system.
The drill cores have now been transported to Europe in specially designed refrigerated containers on an Italian research icebreaker. They are expected to arrive at the AWI ice laboratory in Bremerhaven in early summer for further processing and analysis.
The drill core extends to the rock
According to the AWI, preliminary analyzes indicate that the upper 2,480 meters of the ice core contains a “high-resolution” climate record dating back 1.2 million years. Up to 13,000 years are compressed into one meter of ice. Below this is heavily deformed, possibly mixed or refrozen, even older ice of unknown origin. Overall, the drill core extends down to the bedrock.
The location for drilling into the ice dome, which took more than 200 days, was carefully chosen. The researchers have modeled the glacier flow in advance and, they say, examined the subsurface using modern radio-echo sounder technology. The further treatment of the drill core pieces is also demanding: they must be permanently cooled to minus 50 degrees Celsius.
Source: Krone
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