Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Why scientists want ice from 600 meters below the surface
Researchers stay on Axel Heiberg Island, an uninhabited island in the
Arctic Ocean, for months to extract ice samples from as deep as 600 meters
below the surface. These ancient layers are like a frozen history book, containing
trapped air bubbles and water isotopes. They reveal Earth's past climate,
temperatures, atmospheric composition, such as CO2 and methane, volcanic
activity, and wind patterns, which offer crucial data to understand past
climate cycles. Deeper ice is older ice. Drilling several hundred meters down offers
access to layers from hundreds of thousands of years ago, which provides a
long-term view of Earth's climate history. They drill through ice sheets and extract
ice core samples. Each one-meter section of the sample is cut into five pieces for
gradual analysis in a research facility in Edmonton, Alberta. Researchers always
have to wear heavy down jackets to work in extremely low temperatures to
extract ice samples and analyze them. Their efforts might be rewarded by new scientific
discoveries from the old ice cores.
Watch the video and learn how researchers are trying to learn history
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