Million year old ice in Antarctica

There is some million year old ice deep in Antarctica that researchers are hoping to find out information on the earths past.  They believe that they can predict the effect of co2 in some bubbles that are in the ice.  Climate change is on their minds by unearthing these bubbles.  Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division are getting so close to discovering how to predict the earths climate changes that are coming.  The way they can do this is with a drill that can go down deep under the surface of this frozen continent.

The scientists are hoping to be able to uncover the bubbles in the million year old ice that hold the carbon dioxide from over 1.5 million years ago.  When they are able to analyze these bubbles, they hope to be able to predict how the climate change came about in this past atmosphere.  Carbon dioxide is a part of the climate change that changes the ice age rate.  Like when the ice age cycle on earth was on a 40,000-year cycle a million years ago and then all of a sudden changed to a 100,000-year cycle.  The co2 that we put into the atmosphere is what is leading to this change.  We need to study what the long-term consequences are going to affect the climate on the earth.

The drill that is going to be doing this job is made from aluminum, bronze and titanium so it can withstand -55C.  It will start to work in 2021 and take at least four years to complete the work that is needed.  The men and women working on this drill will be in a very remote area that will be an extreme adventure in Antarctica.