*Ice cores from the Alps to the Andes will be sealed inside a frozen Antarctic chamber, preserving the planet’s oldest environmental secrets.*
*Lou Del Bello for Bloomberg News*
Glacial ice cores offer scientists a detailed archive of the Earth’s atmospheric history. They “hold unique information on past temperatures, atmospheric composition, pollutants, volcanic activity and ecosystem changes, providing insights that cannot be reconstructed from any other source,” says Arun Shrestha, former senior advisor with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Nepal.
Yet rising temperatures are causing glaciers to retreat rapidly, threatening to erase this record before it can be fully studied or preserved. A recent study by ETH Zurich found that the current trajectory of 2.7C of global warming would reduce the world’s glaciers to one-fifth of their current volume by 2100. In a worst-case scenario, with warming exceeding 4C, less than a tenth would survive. Even the Karakoram glaciers in the greater Himalayan region, previously considered an anomaly because their ice volumes had remained stable, are starting to shrink.
Preserving samples underground in a naturally frozen environment capable of withstanding even extreme climatic changes gives this trove of information a fighting chance. And while scientists currently must melt ice cores to extract their secrets, they’re betting that within a few decades they’ll be able to study samples without destroying them. The data will help researchers reconstruct past climates and understand how different environments respond to stress, creating a baseline for assessing how today’s climate may react to human influence. The findings could inform national transition plans, including net zero targets.
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*Ice cores from the Alps to the Andes will be sealed inside a frozen Antarctic chamber, preserving the planet’s oldest environmental secrets.*
*Lou Del Bello for Bloomberg News*
Glacial ice cores offer scientists a detailed archive of the Earth’s atmospheric history. They “hold unique information on past temperatures, atmospheric composition, pollutants, volcanic activity and ecosystem changes, providing insights that cannot be reconstructed from any other source,” says Arun Shrestha, former senior advisor with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Nepal.
Yet rising temperatures are causing glaciers to retreat rapidly, threatening to erase this record before it can be fully studied or preserved. A recent study by ETH Zurich found that the current trajectory of 2.7C of global warming would reduce the world’s glaciers to one-fifth of their current volume by 2100. In a worst-case scenario, with warming exceeding 4C, less than a tenth would survive. Even the Karakoram glaciers in the greater Himalayan region, previously considered an anomaly because their ice volumes had remained stable, are starting to shrink.
Preserving samples underground in a naturally frozen environment capable of withstanding even extreme climatic changes gives this trove of information a fighting chance. And while scientists currently must melt ice cores to extract their secrets, they’re betting that within a few decades they’ll be able to study samples without destroying them. The data will help researchers reconstruct past climates and understand how different environments respond to stress, creating a baseline for assessing how today’s climate may react to human influence. The findings could inform national transition plans, including net zero targets.
[Read the full dispatch here.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-01-16/an-ice-vault-in-antarctica-is-preserving-the-world-s-disappearing-glaciers?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2ODY1OTU4MiwiZXhwIjoxNzY5MjY0MzgyLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUOFk2OFZLSVVQUzAwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.y6aG2pIPROJ-ow2DgTnkM2Baq1QDzAwGKkT36Dkt8_A)