The first ice core drilling campaign of Beyond Epica-Oldest Ice has been successfully completed at the remote Little Dome C site in Antarctica – one of the most extreme places on Earth. By analyzing a deep ice core extracted from the Antarctic ice sheet, scientists aim to find out information on the evolution of the temperatures, the composition of the atmosphere, and on the carbon cycle over the last 1.5 million years.
Ente di diritto pubblico finalizzato alla ricerca e all innovazione tecnologica, nonché alla prestazione di servizi avanzati alle imprese, alla pubblica amministrazione e ai cittadini nei settori dell energia, dell ambiente e dello sviluppo economico sostenibile
A research team has begun an €11-million (US$12.9-million) project with the hopes of collecting the oldest continuous ice core in Antarctica, providing a record of the climate spanning some 1.5 million years.
Researchers from the CNRS traveled to the Antarctic to collect galactic dust. – Photo: AFP
According to a new study from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), every year, around 5,200 tonnes of galactic dust penetrates our atmosphere to land on planet Earth. Created by comets and asteroids, when it enters the atmosphere, the dust particles can flare up, giving rise to shooting stars.
Reaching the ground in the form of micrometeorites, the dust is a phenomenon that has always existed, but one that had yet to be quantified. Most of the time, it is composed of tiny particles, of the order of a few tenths to hundredths of a millimetre, which have managed to pass through the atmosphere to reach the surface of the planet.