Drilling into the secrets of a climate mystery
A team of researchers has drilled out a core of ice over 1.2 million years old in the Antarctic in the hope of solving a mystery of climate history.
Bremerhaven (dpa/d/de) – A team of researchers is investigating Antarctic ice over 1.2 million years old. “The ice really is a unique archive that lets us look back into the climate of the past,” said Pascal Bohleber from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Speaking at an event in Bremerhaven on the North German coast to announce the project, Bohleber said, “We are able to measure a wide range of parameters about the ice which provide a direct insight into many different aspects of the climate system.” To reach the ice, the scientists drilled down around 2,800m from the surface until they reached the bedrock.
The researchers aim to solve the mystery of a change in the climate which took place around 1.2 million to 900,000 years ago. During that period, the time it took for the Earth to switch from a cold phase to a warm phase changed, shifting from a 41,000-year rhythm to 100,000 years. The reasons for this remain unclear. The scientists believe that factors such as the Earth’s tilt, the amount of sunlight which reached the Earth, and the amount of sunlight reflected back by ice sheets could have played a role.
AWI is part of the Helmholtz Association. With around 17,000 scientists and 6,000 PhD students, Helmholtz is Germany’s largest research organisation. Helmholtz consists of 18 independent research centres which investigate questions such as how the environment can remain intact for future generations, or the development of innovative therapies for diseases which are currently incurable.