An Ice Core Sanctuary Has Opened In Antarctica To Protect Our Past For The Future, Before It’s Too Late

In case you missed it, for the last seventy years we’ve been drilling ice cores in places like Antarctica and Greenland.

Meaning the extraction of massive poles of ice from deep underground, the ice cores are then analysed, with the evidence frozen within them like a kind of time capsule, unlocking the secrets of the past.

Among the things we can learn from ice cores is about ancient atmospheric factors, more recent human pollution, volcanic activity, and everything in between – all stretching back up to 800,000 years.

But this valuable practice is under threat from warming temperatures and melting glaciers, so scientists are currently in a race against time to preserve the ability to unpack this valuable data.

In order to preserve ice cores for the future, the Ice Memory Foundation have recently opened the world’s very first sanctuary for ice cores in Antarctica, according to a recent press release.

Situated sixteen feet under the Concordia Research Station on the East Antarctic Plateau, the sanctuary’s conditions are such that the temperature will be stable year-round for (hopefully) many years to come.

This means that ice cores, which are currently shipped around the world for analysis in carefully temperature controlled conditions, can be left in the sanctuary to wait naturally until needed, without the risk of them melting.

This is an important step for preserving these vital frozen time capsules, before they risk being gone for good.

But if they’ve already been analysed, why are we keeping them, some might ask.

Well the truth is, just because researchers have learned a lot from them, doesn’t mean that the ice cores don’t have a lot more history waiting to be told – it could just be that we don’t know how to unlock it yet, as Ice Memory Foundation’s Carlo Barbante explained in the release:

“By safeguarding physical samples of atmospheric gases, aerosols, pollutants and dust trapped in ice layers, the Ice Memory Foundation ensures that future generations of researchers will be able to study past climate conditions using technologies that may not yet exist.”

So as our planet’s heats up and its ice continues to melt, protecting the ice cores is vital.

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