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Scientists drill 2 miles down pull 1.2M-year-old ice core from Antarctic

Scientists drill 2 miles down pull 1.2M-year-old ice core from Antarctic

4 comments

·January 10, 2025
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tiffanyh

> 1.2 million-year-old ice core from Antarctic

Dumb question … does that mean that 1.2M years ago, Antarctica wasn’t frozen but a warm climate at South Pole?

EDIT:

When I say “warm” climate, I mean “an above freezing climate” (which might still be cold but warmer than 0C/32F)

ceejayoz

No. That means it was frozen at that time.

The big freeze was 10-14 million years back. Before that it was tundra and small ice caps.

Go back 30-50M and you'll get to tropical rainforests.

dboreham

1.2M isn't very long. It was in the same place and the climate was similar to today's. There were human-like apes living at the time in Africa. The Antarctic ice sheet is believed to be more than 30M years old.

lupusreal

The age of the ice is very impressive, but the shear depth of the ice still blows my mind.