Name: Inside an Antarctic time machine
Uploaded: 2010-08-24T08:45:00Z
Duration: 9 min 28 s
Description: Science columnist Lee Hotz describes a remarkable project at WAIS Divide, Antarctica, where a hardy team are drilling into ten-thousand-year-old ice to extract vital data on our changing climate.

Lee Hotz: Inside an Antarctic time machine

Inside an Antarctic time machine

Science columnist Lee Hotz describes a remarkable project at WAIS Divide, Antarctica, where a hardy team are drilling into ten-thousand-year-old ice to extract vital data on our changing climate.

Antarctica holds a frozen archive of Earth’s climate history, with ice cores recording greenhouse gases and temperatures across thousands of years. Scientists drill deep into this ice, sometimes extracting air that is over 15,000 years old, to study the relationship between rising temperatures and greenhouse gases. Even the most advanced labs rely on these untouched samples to unlock insights into our planet’s future. The work is urgent, as understanding these patterns could shape how billions experience the effects of a changing climate.