The huge, icy continent of Antarctica has long been a fascination for many.
There are many reasons for this. Firstly, it’s a relatively unexplored and otherworldly place with no human native inhabitants. Instead, the only people on the continent are scientific researchers (along with a smattering of tourists), with between 5,000 and 10,000 scientists present in the summer months; that number plummets to around 1,000 in winter.
Over 99% of this vast icy land comprises of ice and snow, with only a miniscule percentage uncovered; and this is found at the top of mountains, where the peaks reach closer to the Sun.
At the South Pole, temperatures are regularly as low as -75 degrees Celsius, with any person setting foot here required to bundle up in some extremely warm, thermal clothing and take lots of precautions before venturing out here.
The continent’s 5 million penguins, however, have no such worries.
But perhaps the reason that Antarctica is most fascinating is because of all the secrets that its icy ground can unlock about our planet, our climate, and everything in between.
And excitingly, for the first time researchers at the Little Dome C site have drilled to the deepest ever level – 2,800 meters to the bottom of the ice – and extracted the core for examination.
This was no mean feat. In fact, the drilling operation took over 200 days, with the scientists having to endure Antarctica’s challenging conditions through even the most difficult seasons.
When the ice is analyzed, they will hope that their determination and perseverance, through bitter cold that stretched way below freezing and down to temperatures that most of us could never imagine, has paid off.
That’s because scientists hope to find evidence of the Earth’s climate conditions – including air pollution samples – frozen in time. In fact, the deepest layers of this ice are thought to have formed over 1.2 million years ago, with it building up and up over time, capturing layers and layers of climatic history in the process.
In a recent statement, Carlos Barbante – coordinator of Beyond EPICA, the project that extracted the ice – explained just how groundbreaking this moment is for science around the world:
“We have marked a historic moment for climate and environmental science. This is the longest continuous record of our past climate from an ice core, and it can reveal the interlink between the carbon cycle and temperature of our planet.”
The ice core has a long journey ahead of it; it will be carefully transported to Europe, under heavily controlled conditions, for full testing. Gianluca Bianchi Fasani, Beyond EPICA’s head of logistics, explained the intricacies of this process:
“The precious ice cores extracted during this campaign will be transported back to Europe on board the icebreaker Laura Bassi, maintaining the -50°C cold chain, a significant challenge for the logistics of the project. To reach this goal, a strategy was developed involving the design of specialized cold containers and precise scheduling of the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA) air and naval assets.”
Beyond even that 1.2 million year mark, the scientists have some hope that even older ice could be present. Not only would this deepen our understanding of how our planet’s atmosphere has changed over time – and consequently, the negative human effects upon it – it could also provide new insight into when Antarctica was last free from ice.
As we continue to grapple with our ever-changing climate, it is hoped that this vital research could unlock secrets about our planet’s past – and perhaps even help us to save it into the future, too.
While our ice sheets continue to melt, this could be our last chance.
If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.