Scientists at the South Pole are presently digging the first deep ice core sample that have ever been lead in the area . These core samples will cater information about the historic climate , which can then be used to help see the current climate crisis . The drilling is being express out over the next two twelvemonth by theSouth Pole Ice Core Project , with Murat Aydin of University of California , Irvine as chief police detective .

The drill situation is a simple 2.7 km ( 1.7 miles ) away from the South Pole , and this is the first deep ice drilling project to occur south of 82 degrees latitude . While previous expedition this far southward have look back at the last 3,000 years , the South Pole Ice Core Project crew will be compile sample distribution that look 40,000 years into the past . The drilling season began in early December and it will continue until the end of January . Even during what is now summertime at the South Pole , the extreme temperatures have posed a challenge to the machinery .

“ The cold temperature in the icing , about -50 C , have caused some surprises with boring since certain aspects of the exercise do differently even than during the test in Greenland at -30 C , ” current playing area lede researcher T.J. Fudge said in apress release .

The incredibly low temperatures that are work the functionality of the boring equipment are what make the location so attractive to the investigator , as the conditions are just right for keep rarified organic atom and trace gasoline in the glass ’s line bubbles . These ca n’t be observe in methamphetamine hydrochloride much further Union , because even -30º degree centigrade is not cold enough to keep them . These delicate chemical substance will assist reveal the history of the South Pole ’s climate .

“ South Pole is part of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet , yet is influenced by storm coming across the West Antarctic Ice Sheet , ” Fudge explain . “ This core will help us enter out how the two side of Antarctica communicate during climate changes in the yesteryear . ”

So far , the research worker have drilled 500 metre ( a third of a naut mi ) into the ice . Their finish is to reach 700 metre ( 0.4 miles ) by the end of the current drilling time of year , and pip 1,500 meters ( 0.9 miles ) in the next season . This is not as far as other core samples have been occupy ; Aydin and Fudge also worked on thecore projectof the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that stretch out 3.3 kilometers ( 2 naut mi ) . Because the ice is different in the current emplacement , the researchers are focusing on caliber over quantity .

“ We ’re not just trying to punch through the methamphetamine hydrochloride flat solid , the most crucial objective is to convey up the in high spirits - quality ice potential , ” commented Aydin .

Because very few people have been to Antarctica , let alone the South Pole , the ice is relatively undisturbed and pristine . There is a layer clouded by ash associate with volcanic eruptions , but the sample distribution are otherwise very clear and should yield a marvelous amount of utile entropy once the cores are processed .

Though all of the information from the sample will dispatch the mood record of the South Pole , dissimilar labs are concerned in unlike information . For instance , the undertaking ’s co - leader , Eric Steig of the University of Washington , will explore historical temperature based on the isotopes of atomic number 8 that are found . Fudge , on the other hand , is see for implausibly rarified gases which would indicate former plant life .

“ The South Pole is one of the very few places in Antarctica that has not warmed up in the past 50 years , ” Steig explicate . “ That ’s interesting , and needs to be better understood . ”

Frostbyte , T.J. Fudge , Dating an Antarctic Ice CorefromClimate and CryosphereonVimeo .