The Ancient Antarctic Ice That Could Transform Climate Understanding
A section of ancient Antarctic ice, possibly dating back more than 1.5 million years, has arrived in the UK, where researchers plan to melt and study it to reveal vital clues about Earth’s climate history.
Extracted from deep within the Antarctic interior, the clear, dense core is believed to be the oldest piece of ice ever recovered from the planet. It is now in storage at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) facility in Cambridge.
Encased within the frozen layers are tiny traces of dust, gases, and organic material from over a million years ago — data that could fundamentally reshape what scientists know about past climate behaviour and future trends.
In the Cambridge labs, the BBC was given rare access to a specialised -23°C storage room where the ice is being kept. Protective red thermal suits, gloves, and boots were mandatory, and even camera equipment struggled with the cold — one shutter freezing solid during filming.
“This period in Earth’s climate story is a complete blank page,” explained Dr Liz Thomas, lead scientist on the project at BAS. She stood beside the translucent cores — some so pristine they appeared like glass — carefully stored in insulated boxes after their journey from Antarctica.
The ice will be melted gradually over the next seven weeks. During this process, scientists hope to extract ancient ash, diatoms (microscopic algae), and wind-blown particles sealed inside since the time the water first froze.
These remnants are key to revealing past temperatures, sea levels, and atmospheric conditions. The water will be analysed using cutting-edge instruments in a neighbouring laboratory — one of the few in the world equipped for this kind of work.
Collecting the ice was an immense international undertaking. Teams worked across four Antarctic seasons to extract a continuous 2.8-kilometre-long core near Concordia Station, located around 40 kilometres from the French-Italian base.
Engineer James Veale, who assisted in the field, recalled the awe of holding the ancient material. “To handle something that old, knowing it has been untouched for over a million years — it’s extraordinary.”
The extracted ice, sliced into metre-long segments, was transported to Europe via ship, then delivered to Cambridge in refrigerated vehicles. Other samples were sent to research institutes in Switzerland and Germany.
Scientists are particularly eager to see whether this core contains evidence of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels that rival — or exceed — today’s. Such findings could inform how the Earth might respond to the unprecedented spike in greenhouse gases humans have caused over the past century and a half.
One area of interest is the so-called Mid-Pleistocene Transition, a major climate shift that occurred between 800,000 and 1.2 million years ago. During this time, Earth’s glacial cycles abruptly changed: instead of alternating between warm and cold periods every 41,000 years, they began switching roughly every 100,000 years. The reasons behind this remain one of the greatest mysteries in climate science.
By analysing the ice’s chemical makeup — including rare elements, sea salt residues, and volcanic traces — researchers hope to uncover why this shift occurred. An instrument called an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICPMS) will measure over 20 different elements to support this work.
The core may also reveal periods when Antarctic ice sheets were much smaller and sea levels significantly higher than today, offering sobering parallels to the challenges posed by modern climate change.
“The presence of dust in certain layers will help us understand how the ice sheets responded to warming events in the past,” said Dr Thomas. “It could shed light on the dynamics of ice melt and sea level rise — something we urgently need to understand this century.”
