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Australia Plans To Drill 2,000-Year-Old Ice Core In Antarctica

Posted by timothy on from the best-place-for-it-really dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Australia announced Saturday a new project to drill a deep ice core in Antarctica, which may shed light on past climatic conditions in the continent. The project, Aurora Basin North project, will involve researchers drilling a 2,000-year-old ice core, in order to search for the scientific 'holy grail' of the ice core."

3 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Cores by symbolset · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In the Beaufort Sea just north of Canada's Yukon there's a spot that has been covered in ice in the winter and exposed to the sun in the summer, for a billion years - give or take some ice ages - back to when the substrate was actually near the equator. And the sediment there on the sea floor has more to tell us about our climate, global insolation and biological action than these antarctic cores do. Worse still, oil drillers are actively drilling in this area and willing to give up the cores for free as they are an unavoidable byproduct of their operations. Why are we not hearing about the research into these arctic sediment cores?

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    1. Re:Cores by Rogerborg · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Glacial period, not ice age. We're in an ice age. We're due for a glacial period. Would you prefer that to warming?

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    2. Re:Cores by Runaway1956 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I read an article on this a few days ago. Discovery, I think it was on.

      Anyway - there seem to be a number of assumptions made about the quality of the ice core, as well as the detail to be found in that ice core. Such assumptions lead me to believe that the results of that ice core are probably already in. They already know that they are going to verify mankind has caused global warming, and that we are accelerating global warming at a catastrophic rate. I'm about half certain that they've already entered the results into one of their computer models.

      I wouldn't say it's all bogus, but if it walks like bogus, talks like bogus, and shits like bogus, then it's probably bogus.

      And, what a coincidence. "The announcement comes on the same day a leaked draft of the next major Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report showed more evidence of human-led climate change."

      Politics, as usual.

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