What is believed to be the oldest piece of ice on the planet, located in Antarctica and dating back 1.2 million years, has been the subject of study by several groups of scientists from up to seven nations that They have had a long battle to get a sample of it and then analyze it.
Now, after almost three years and arduous research work enduring temperatures of up to -35º, one of these groups, led by the Institute of Polar Sciences, has managed to extract an ice core 2.8 kilometers long, which translates into a size eight times longer than the Eiffel Tower.
After achieving the mission, the researchers are now studying the sample, in which they have found small air bubbles that could help decipher one of the greatest mysteries that existed until now: what happened about 1.2 million years ago when the Glacial cycles were interrupted. “It’s an amazing achievement,” said Carlo Barbante of the Ca’Foscari University of Venice, one of the lead researchers on the research.
“You hold in your hands a piece of ice that is a million years old. Sometimes you see layers of ash from volcanic eruptions. You see the tiny bubbles inside, bubbles of air that our ancestors breathed a million years ago,” stands out.
In order to carry out the investigation, in which up to ten European countries participatedthe researchers had to move a large amount of equipment and material, in addition to locating near the extraction site – known as Little Dome C– their camps and laboratories.
The extraction site, located on the Antarctic plateau to the east of the continent and almost 3,000 meters high, serves scientists to learn a little more about how changes in climate occur thanks to the ice cores it has.
The project, called ‘Beyond Epica: Oldest Ice’ has allowed scientists to go back in time and show a little more closely what happened during this period, known as the Middle Pleistocene Transition, in which it is believed that our ancestors were on the verge of extinction. “There is a lot of the past in our future. We look to the past to better understand how the climate works and how we can project it into the future,” explains the professor.
After achieving the drilling – which surprisingly was done deeper than initially thought –The researchers cleaned the sample with cloths and cut it into one-meter pieces. to be able to take them by boat to numerous European institutions from Antarctica.
“What they will find is anyone’s guess, but it will undoubtedly expand our window into our planet’s past,” finally stated to the BBCNews Professor Joeri Rogelj, who was not involved in the project.
