Context: Arctic scientists are set to start drilling to save samples of ancient ice for analysis before the frozen layers melt away due to climate change.
Major Highlights
- Italian, French and Norwegian researchers have set up camp in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago to preserve crucial ice records for analysing past environmental conditions.
- They will extract ice in a series of tubes from 125 metres below the surface, containing frozen geochemical traces dating back three centuries.
Key Facts
- Human-caused carbon emissions have warmed the planet by 1.1 degrees Celsius since the 19th century.
- The Arctic is warming between two and four times faster than the global average.
