ice core
Frozen climate archive
An ice core is a cylindrical sample drilled from a glacier or ice sheet, used to study climate history.
As snow accumulates and compresses over millennia, it traps air bubbles, dust, and chemicals that reveal past atmospheric conditions.
Scientists analyze ice cores to reconstruct temperature, greenhouse gas levels, and volcanic activity going back hundreds of thousands of years: The Antarctic ice core showed carbon dioxide levels unprecedented in 800,000 years.
Respiration byproduct, photosynthesis fuel
- methaneSimplest alkane fuel
- temperatureMeasured heat intensity
- volcanic ashFragmented rock from eruptions
- sulfateAcidic salt compound
atmosphere · climate change · greenhouse gases · air bubbles · pollen · dust · aerosols · precipitation
Study of prehistoric climates
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- isotopesAtomic number twins
- oxygen-18Heavier oxygen isotope
- deuteriumHydrogen isotope with neutron
firn · glacier · accumulation · ablation · anthropocene · drilling · borehole · cryosphere
Hole-boring device
- cylinderCircular-based solid form
- sampleSubset for study
- laboratoryFacility for scientific investigation
- freezerSubzero storage compartment
analysis · cross-section · segment · storage · contamination · dating · measurement · spectrometry
carbon dioxide
Respiration byproduct, photosynthesis fuel
- methaneSimplest alkane fuel
- temperatureMeasured heat intensity
- volcanic ashFragmented rock from eruptions
sulfate · atmosphere · climate change · greenhouse gases · air bubbles · pollen · dust · aerosols · precipitation · sea level
paleoclimatology
Study of prehistoric climates
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- isotopesAtomic number twins
- oxygen-18Heavier oxygen isotope
deuterium · firn · glacier · accumulation · ablation · anthropocene · drilling · borehole · cryosphere · glaciologist
drill
Hole-boring device
- cylinderCircular-based solid form
- sampleSubset for study
- laboratoryFacility for scientific investigation
freezer · analysis · cross-section · segment · storage · contamination · dating · measurement · spectrometry · preservation
- AntarcticaSouth Pole, Amundsen, Scott, penguins, glaciology
- Ice Agemammoths, saber-tooth cat, mammoth, woolly mammoth, Pleistocene
- ice and snowglacier, hail, sleet, snowflake, frost
- polar regionsAntarctica, polar bears, Arctic Ocean, glaciers, Arctic
- icefloe, skating rink, rink, polar cap, frozen lake
- Coresnucleus, kernel, center
ice coresnow pit
Trench for analyzing snowpack
satellite imagery · skin sample · remote sensing · aerial survey
ice, core, iced, iceberg, icicle, ices, cores, hardcore, cored