Scientists drill 2 miles down pull 1.2M-year-old ice core from Antarctic
15 points by belter 6 hours ago | 4 comments
  • lupusreal 5 hours ago |
    The age of the ice is very impressive, but the shear depth of the ice still blows my mind.
  • tiffanyh 5 hours ago |
    > 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 5 hours ago |
      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 5 hours ago |
      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.