All articles tagged with #ice cores
A massive ice core from Antarctica’s Dome C provides a continuous record of Earth’s atmosphere over the last 800,000 years, revealing that current CO2 levels far exceed natural historical ranges. A new, deeper core has extended this timeline to 1.2 million years, offering unprecedented insights into ancient climate cycles.
Antarctica is a desert by precipitation, receiving less than 250 mm annually, yet it stores about 70% of Earth's fresh water in an ice sheet averaging over two kilometres thick. The interior's extreme dryness and cold allow snow to accumulate and compress into ancient ice that records climate history in cores like Vostok. Warming could bring more snowfall inland but intensify coastal ice loss, notably from Thwaites Glacier, with potential sea-level rise around 58 metres if all Antarctic ice melted—though that would occur on millennial timescales. The continent's high, cold plateau is the key to this paradox and Earth's largest freshwater reservoir.
A likely global-scale eruption in 1452–1453 injected about 11 megatons of sulfur into the stratosphere—roughly a third of Tambora’s 1815 output—leaving a distinct chemical spike in ice cores and evidence of widespread cold in historical records, including Chinese chronicles and tree rings. The source volcano remains unidentified as no ash layer has been found, though contemporaries reported a red glow near Hagia Sophia that may have been sunlight on ash clouds; the event coincided with the fall of Constantinople, but its exact volcanic origin remains a mystery.
A 60-meter-deep snow vault near the Concordia Research Station in Antarctica stores ice cores from endangered glaciers around the world, preserving climate records trapped in ancient air bubbles for future study as glaciers melt worldwide.
Researchers, by melting Antarctic ice from the EPICA project and counting iron-60, found higher-than-background levels dating 40,000–81,000 years ago, suggesting the Solar System has moved through the Local Interstellar Cloud, sampling regions of interstellar dust from past supernovae and turning ice into a galactic time capsule.
Scientists from COLDEX have discovered 6-million-year-old ice in Antarctica's Allan Hills, providing rare direct evidence of past atmospheric conditions and temperature changes, including a regional cooling of about 12°C over the past six million years, offering valuable insights into Earth's climate history.
Scientists have transported and are melting a 1.5 million-year-old ice core from Antarctica in the UK to study ancient climate data, which could provide vital insights into Earth's past climate patterns, sea levels, and the effects of greenhouse gases, helping to understand current and future climate change.
Scientists have extracted data from Antarctic ice cores dating back 800,000 years, revealing insights into past climate, volcanic eruptions, and human activities. A recent study using ice cores showed the impact of European colonization on Indigenous populations, with the deaths of 56 million people leading to increased forest growth and reduced carbon dioxide levels. This demonstrates the significant influence of human actions on the Earth's atmosphere, highlighting the lasting effects of historical events on the planet.
A new study has used an 850-year pollen record from Greenland to investigate the impact of climate and human activity on boreal ecosystems, particularly in high-latitude regions. The research reveals changes in pollen composition coinciding with the transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age, indicating the influence of both climate and human exploitation of forests. The findings suggest that human impact, such as logging and forest exploitation, had a significant effect on the landscape, outweighing the impact of climate change. As Arctic ecosystems continue to be rapidly altered by climate change, the study highlights the complex interplay between climate and human activity in shaping the environment.
Researchers have conducted the first assessment of toxic heavy metal pollution in the Southern Hemisphere over the past 2,000 years using ice cores from Antarctica. The study reveals that lead and other toxic heavy metals associated with mining activities have been polluting the region since the 13th century, with significant increases coinciding with the establishment of urban communities and Spanish Colonial mining and metallurgy. The research provides insight into the historical impacts of human activity on the environment and demonstrates the potential of ice cores as a time capsule for understanding Earth's history.
The United States' largest ice repository, located in a minus-40-degree vault in Colorado, is running out of space to store ice samples up to 4.5 million years old. These ice cores are crucial for understanding climate history and the impact of human activities on the environment. However, the outdated freezer is full, and a replacement won't be available for another two years. As a result, the curator of the Ice Core Facility is forced to decide which ice cores to keep and what to do with the surplus. Scientists are racing to collect more ice to fill in the gaps in climate history, but the cost is high. The ice cores provide valuable insights into past climate patterns and help researchers better understand the current changes happening on Earth.
Scientists have discovered ancient volcanic debris from New Zealand's Taupō eruption 1,800 years ago in West Antarctica, providing evidence to pinpoint the exact timing of the eruption. The eruption, one of the most violent in the last 5,000 years, had previously been a subject of debate. The discovery of seven geochemically unique volcanic glass shards in ice cores confirms the eruption occurred in late summer/early autumn in the year 232. The shards, dispersed by wind, traveled over 3,000 miles to Antarctica, highlighting the power of the eruption. The findings also revealed glass from a much earlier eruption of the same volcano, providing a "double fingerprint" confirming the source.
Rebecca Pyne, the coordinator and caretaker at the National Ice Core Research Facility in New Zealand, discusses the importance of ice cores in understanding past climate. The facility houses over 2,300 meters of ice cores, with the longest sample dating back 83,000 years. Pyne highlights the significance of studying Antarctic ice retreat and sea-level rise due to climate change. She also mentions the urgency in preserving ice cores from New Zealand glaciers, which are disappearing rapidly. Pyne, inspired by her geologist parents, hopes to visit Antarctica again in the future.
The Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark stores some 40,000 segments of ice cores, long cylinders of ice from polar regions that preserve the history of past climate. Ice cores serve as important historical records for scientists interested in how our planet’s climate has changed, whether in the distant past or more recently. The study of deep ice cores from the Arctic and Antarctica, like the ones stored in Copenhagen, has helped demonstrate how human activity, rather than natural cycles, is causing climate change today.
A new study suggests that Heinrich-type climate variability, characterized by massive detritus layers in the North Atlantic, may have a bipolar impact and phasing, affecting both hemispheres simultaneously. The study analyzed ice core records from Greenland and Antarctica and found evidence of synchronized warming and cooling events during Heinrich stadials. The findings challenge the traditional view of the bipolar seesaw, which suggests that climate changes in one hemisphere are offset by opposite changes in the other hemisphere.