A core of ice about 1.5 million years recently in the United Kingdom, where scientists will melt it to reveal critical information about the climate of the planet. This crystalline roller was extinguished from the depths of Antarctica and is considered the oldest sample of ice ever recovered on Earth.

The ice core was cut into a one -meter block and was transported from Antarctica via a ship with a special refrigerant to Cambridge. Its parts have also been sent to research centers in Germany and Switzerland.

It encloses the environmental history of thousands of years and is regarded by the scientific community as a possible “milestone” for understanding climate change.

For the next seven weeks, as this core will be melted, trapped particles from volcanic ash, ancient dust and even tiny algae will be released.

These findings will allow scientists to reproduce atmospheric composition, temperatures, winds and levels of water levels that prevailed more than a million years ago.

The process is done in one of the few laboratories worldwide with equipment and know -how for such measurements.

Engineer James Wil, who was involved in mining near the base of the Concord in Eastern Antarctica, describes the moment he was holding the ice as “shocking”.

The research team expects to identify data from a time when carbon dioxide concentrations may have been equally high or higher than today.

Such a discovery could illuminate how our planet responds to the greenhouse effect.

“The climate of the Earth has gone through countless changes,” Dr. Thomas said, stressing that we must understand these changes and the “turning points” to interpret what is coming.

The main difference with the past, as he points out, is that today people have caused a rapid rise in emissions over the last 150 years – a phenomenon that leads to “uncharted trails”.