Ice cores are frozen time machines. The snow is compressed into ice, which captures bubbles of very ancient air with its carbon dioxide and methane. In 2025, researchers drilled 2.8 km to Antarctica’s bedrock, where they found ice that had been there for at least one million years.
What Can Bubbles Show Us?
The air in the bubbles keeps track of concentrations of greenhouse gases, and the ice indicates the temperature. The previous EPICA ice core that is about 800,000 years old showed that neither CO2 nor methane was greater than any level after the industrial revolution, even in the hottest period.
Why Is The Age of 1.2 Mln Years Important?
The core might explain why ice-age cycles changed from 41 thousand years to 100 thousand years. It has been determined that up to 13 thousand years of climate history are compressed into one meter of ice in the upper 2890 m of the core.
What Is The Importance Of The Research Recently?
According to project manager Carlo Barbante, CO2 concentrations today reach 50% more than any previous value in 800,000 years. The studies about ice cores are useful in checking future climate models for Antarctic ice cap melting.
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