What Can Ice in Antarctica Tell Us About Earth’s Past Climate?

Abstract

Antarctica is the coldest, driest, highest, and windiest continent, and it is home to 70 research stations from 29 countries. Antarctica is a remote and harsh place, without many weather stations or people. This means scientists must come up with creative ways to learn about the continent’s past climate. Scientists use sediment that builds up on the ocean floor to explore what Earth was like more than a million years ago; and they use satellites to learn about today’s climate. But how can we know what happened in the time between? This is where ice can help! When snow falls in Antarctica, it builds up in layers that get squeezed into ice. These layers hold traces of the past climate. The ice in Antarctica is the oldest anywhere in the world. Hundreds of thousands of years ago until now. These studies help us to better understand the past climate and to predict the future climate.