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Now, the last and oldest sections of the
ice cores brought back from Antarctica
are being melted for analysis at the
British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge.
Once all of the results are collected,
it will give scientists a continuous
environmental record going back more
than 1 and a half million years. Our
science editor, Ma Rebecca Morurell, is
there for us now. Um, hello to you,
Rebecca. This is fascinating stuff. just
tell us what this old ice can can tell
us about about the world.
>> Yeah, I mean it has been a hive of
activity here this morning and for the
last 6 weeks cuz scientists here have
been working around the clock to study
some of the most precious samples
collected from Antarctica and it all
starts here in the freezer. So, we're
going to go in. It's minus 23°. So,
we're not going to go in for too long
because all of our kit stops working,
which makes it a bit more exciting. Um,
so this room was packed full of boxes.
Now there is only a few left and they've
saved the best till last because these
are some of the oldest ice cores that
have ever been collected. One of them is
being prepped right over here by Maddie
at the moment. It is very clear and this
is about to be melted. So we're going to
go back outside into the warm. I will
make sure that we close the door behind
us cuz we don't want it melting too
soon. And I will take you over. That's
nice and closed over to mission control
which is essentially these screens here
because all of the time that the ice is
being melted it's being constantly
monitored by the scientists here. Now
I'm joined by Dr. Liz Thomas who's head
of the ice core team here. Just tell us
how precious these samples are. Where
where were they collected from? First of
all, these are really valuable pieces of
ice that we're currently melting and
they come from a core that was drilled
in East Antarctica over many seasons.
It's part of a big international
collaboration funded by the EU. And the
reason we're so excited about it is
because we hope it's going to be the
longest ever continuous ice core
spreading back at least 1.2 million
years, maybe a bit older. And that core
came from 2.8 km down. I must just show
you this actually, the freezer door
where you can see the point where they
hit 1.2 million years, but it might be
even older. Maybe 1.3, 1.4, maybe 1.5.
Now, let me take you over to here
because as the ice is melted, the liquid
feeds through here into this raft of
scientific equipment. There's even a
little gizmo here which is collecting
the bubbles, the air trapped inside,
which is potentially over a million
years old. Now, Liz, the ice looks so
clear, but there's a lot of stuff in
there that you're studying, isn't there?
>> It does. It looks exceptionally clear,
and it's very beautiful, in fact. But
that is quite deceiving because inside
there we know from using all of these
instruments that there is a huge amount
of information about our planet. So
about the climate and how the
environment has changed. And what we're
doing is measuring that further back in
time to be able to reconstruct what's
been happening beyond a million years
ago.
>> And up to now you've only had ice that's
800,000 years old. So this pushes it
back way further. I mean why is it
important to look back? Is it all about
looking forward? I suppose
>> ultimately yes. So our longest previous
ice score, the epica dome sea iceore
went back 800,000 years and it was a
hugely iconic record because it was able
to really place the current increase in
carbon dioxide in this longerterm
context and show that it's outside of
the range of natural variability. What
we're doing now is we're starting to
look even further back in time to an
important period in our climate history
when we believe that the ice sheets were
smaller than they are today. Sea levels
were higher and we think it may have
been that the carbon dioxide in our
atmosphere was actually higher. This
makes it a really interesting analog for
how our climate is currently evolving
and how it may look in the future.
>> It's all about trying to find out what
happens next. And the only way you can
do that is to look back. Exactly, Liz.
Thank you very much. We we're going to
let the scientists get on with their
work here because they've got this is
their last day of melting. So after
that, the ice is gone. And it's still
mind-blowing to me that you've spent,
you know, years collecting the stuff,
hundreds of scientists working on it.
And then essentially to study it, you
have to destroy it really. But there are
still going to be months, even years
worth of research to continue after the
ice has turned to liquid. But yeah,
really important stuff going on in this
freezer here.
>> Rebecca, absolutely fascinating.
Mind-blowing is absolutely the word. Uh,
thank you for the moment.
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