(ORDO NEWS) — Specialists from Oregon State University gathered to conduct an expedition to Antarctica. The main goal was to search for the oldest ice sample. For this, the experts received a $ 25 million grant. This money will be spent not only on the expedition itself, but also on paying for the services of the best scientists in the world, who will further study the obtained sample.
This is reported by Express.
Paleoclimatologist Ed Brook said that earlier it was possible to find a sample of ice, the age of which is 800 thousand years. This time, experts plan to go much deeper to get ice, which is at least 1.5 million years old. If they can do this, then the new discovery will help establish what exactly happened on Earth and how it behaved when it was much warmer than in the last million years.
Experts point out that the age of 1.5 million years may not be the limit. In the very depths of the mountains, which are located on the territory of Antarctica, older specimens may be present. Some of them even reach the age of three million years.
Specialists from other universities in the world will also take part in this ambitious project. Brook stressed that drilling ice on the coldest continent is an incredibly costly and time-consuming business. The process can take several years, so they enlisted the help of other specialists to help with detailed planning and modeling of the upcoming expedition.
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