OSU student travels to Antarctica in quest to find world's oldest piece of ice

CORVALLIS, Ore. — When you think of ice, you probably don't think of it being the color green.

But Julia Peterson, an Oregon State University PhD student, says she and her colleagues are searching for just that.

"It's really got this like green tint to it at the bottom, like as it gets closer to bedrock, it's got this kind of interaction with the rock that gives it this green tint that kind of could indicate that it's been there for a long time," Peterson said.

She is part of a team of 22 scientists from the Oregon State University-led Center for Oldest Ice Exploration called COLDEX.

"So, I was often at one of the drill sites, and we'd go out on our snow machines, and then we would be there kind of all day," said Peterson.

She and her colleagues have been camping out in tents and drilling miles downward into the ice core in search of the world's oldest piece of ice.

Every morning at 6:30 a.m., Julia says she builds up the courage to get out of her warm sleeping bag to brave the -40 degree temperature and begin a long day of drilling in the Alan Hills.

So far, they have found what is believed to be 4-million-year-old ice.

She and her colleagues say it's a direct clue to the past.

"We're trying to find the oldest possible ice in Antarctica, because we want to use it to tell us things about the history of the Earth's climate, the global climate, and the Antarctic climate, and the history of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere," said OSU Professor Ed Brook, who is overseeing the program.

Their goal is to use the ice to get a better understanding of Earth's climate record and environmental history.

With these findings, COLDEX is hoping to see how the planet may respond to the increase in greenhouse gases.

"This ice isn't nice and layered, you know, you go down, year by year by year, it's more mixed up. So, we have to kind of pull the puzzle pieces together."

After the ice is collected, it is sent back to the U.S. to undergo testing that will determine its true age.

Now, they say, it's just a waiting game to see what they have found and what it can tell us about planet Earth's past and future climate.