Unique Ice, 1.5m Years Old, to Be Melted to Unlock Mystery
ANTARCTICA, JUL 18 – Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey will melt a 1.5 million-year-old ice core over seven weeks to study ancient greenhouse gas levels and the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, a critical climate shift.
- A research group headed by Dr. Liz Thomas at the British Antarctic Survey’s facility in Cambridge will spend seven weeks carefully melting Antarctic ice cores that are 1.5 million years old to investigate the planet’s past climate.
- The ice cores, extracted from a depth of 2,800 metres near the Concordia research station, are intended to investigate the reasons behind a major shift in Earth's climatic cycles that occurred roughly from one million to 1.2 million years ago during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition.
- Researchers will use continuous flow analysis to measure chemical elements, particles, and isotopes to reconstruct atmospheric conditions and past climate cycles beyond the existing 800,000-year record.
- Dr. Thomas said the data will provide vital insights into greenhouse gas levels during this unexplored period and could “revolutionise” climate change understanding and future predictions.
- The research could clarify how ancient shifts affected sea levels and ice sheets, offering critical context for anticipating Earth's future response to rising greenhouse gases.
14 Articles
14 Articles
In Cambridge, the "world's oldest ice" from Antarctica is ready for analysis. The ice cores may be 1.5 million years old, or even older. Scientists are very curious about the results, because the ice could teach us new things about the climate a million years ago. Even then, CO2 levels in the atmosphere were quite high.
Science breakthrough as Antarctic mystery unlocked after melting of rare 1.5 million-year-old ice
British scientists are set to melt a very rare 1.5million year old ice cylinder from the Antarctic ice sheet.Researchers at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge received the extraordinary cylinder with it being brought to the UK for analysis."This is a completely unknown period of our Earth's history," explained Dr Liz Thomas, who leads ice core research at the institution.The pristine samples arrived in specially refrigerated containers fo…
Why 1.5-million-yr old ice is set to be melted in the UK
Ice, believed to be the oldest on the planet, was retrieved from a depth of 2,800 metres underwater in East Antarctica as part of the Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice project. Scientists say they hope to solve the mystery of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, an era between 800,000 to 1.2 million years ago
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