A team of researchers, including those from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has discovered the oldest directly dated ice and air on the planet in the Allan Hills region of East Antarctica,
A team of researchers, including those from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has discovered the oldest directly dated ice and air on the planet in the Allan Hills region of East Antarctica, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A 6-million-year-old ice sample—the oldest sample from Allan Hills dated by researchers—provides an unprecedented window into Earth’s past climate, where abundant geological evidence indicates much warmer temperatures and higher sea levels compared to today.
The research was led by Sarah Shackleton, assistant scientist in Geology & Geophysics, and John Higgins of Princeton University, who are affiliated with the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Oldest Ice Exploration, or COLDEX, a collaboration of 15 U.S. research institutions led by Oregon State University.
“Ice cores are like time machines that let scientists take a look at what our planet was like in the past,” said Shackleton, who has participated in many seasons of ice core drilling at Allan Hills. “The Allan Hills cores help us travel much further back than we imagined possible.”
This is the most significant discovery to date for COLDEX, an NSF Science and Technology Center funded in 2021 to explore the Antarctic ice
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