Scientists plan to drill the ice age 1 million years

Our planet hides many mysteries and secrets and sometimes the expression “to get to the truth” scientists used, not in a figurative sense. After all, in the bowels of the Earth has a mass of information, which can be very helpful. Sometimes in order for this information to get, they have to build very ambitious projects. For example, as reported by the Guardian, a team of scientists going 4 years to drill the ice age 1 million years. Why would they do that?

The ice of Antarctica hides many secrets

Why drill for ancient ice?

Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), dealing with issues of ecology and the environment, I think the ice in Antarctica may contain important information about the past of the planet and able to assist in climate forecasting due to the gas bubbles that are frozen there as if in a trap.

This mission, which we will start in the next few years, will solve several problems related to the climate, says one of the ideologists of the project TAS van Ommen. The ice, which reaches more than 1 million years, is the subject of several international research projects. And we hope to discover there tiny bubbles, which have preserved information about the ancient atmosphere of the planet. These tiny bubbles — a real time capsule.

Scientists have presented a model of the drill that should help the experts with their research. Drill drill is manufactured according to the patented technology and contains stainless steel and aluminum alloy, bronze and titanium. On assurances of scientists, the drill will be capable of operating at temperatures of minus 55 degrees Celsius.

Drilling rig (which weighs, by the way, about 500 tons) is movable and will be able to move independently for short distances. Nevertheless delivered to the ice continent, it will be piecemeal, which will be made after the Assembly of the unit at a distance of 1200 from the coast. The drilling should start in 2021, and the process will take a total of 4 years. But why so long? Their assumptions can Express the comments in our chat in Telegram. It will be interesting to know your opinion.

Read also: What lies beneath the ice of Antarctica?

The answer to this question is quite simple. The fact that simply “drill a hole” is not enough. Since the process of drilling the ice cracks and breaks, and scientists need to get as less damage to the specimen in order to investigate the composition of the prisoners inside the air bubbles. First and foremost, scientists are interested in carbon dioxide. Namely, as the percentage in the surrounding air has varied over time.

This photo is not from Antarctica, but something like this may look frozen in the ice bubbles

According to some estimates, about 1 million years ago the Earth “moved” from the cycle of glacial period 40,000 years between “periods of freezing” to the cycle length of 100000 years. Scientists believe that carbon dioxide greatly affects these processes. As many of you already probably guessed, the processes of accumulation of carbon dioxide associated with industrial production, at the moment are a very serious problem. So scientists it is important to understand whether the emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today have long term consequences. Of course, the study of the composition of the ancient atmosphere will also help to develop measures to prevent environmental disasters.


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