Ice Core

Real World Example

Imagine you’re trying to understand the history of a neglected garden by examining its soil layers and the debris on top. Just like analyzing the layers of soil and fallen leaves can reveal what plants grew there and what kind of weather it endured, an ice core extracted from an ice sheet or glacier helps scientists study past climates and atmospheric conditions. In this analogy, the layers of soil and debris are akin to the ice layers, with each layer containing tiny bubbles of ancient air and particles that represent historical climate data, while the garden's history is comparable to Earth's climate history preserved in the ice core.