YouTuber Explores What Is in a 20,000-Year-Old Cube of Ice

The answer has something to do with climate change!
Loukia Papadopoulos

YouTuber It's Okay To Be Smart visited Dr. Jeff Severinghaus of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to explore what lies beneath our oldest ice. Severinghaus studies ice and is part of a team that is looking to find the oldest ice on Earth.

Why? Might you ask. Because of what ice can tell us about our previous atmosphere. 

"Earth’s climate is changing in a big way, and it’s because there's more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than at any point in our species’ history. But Earth’s climate has changed before. How do we know that this time we’re the cause? We know thanks to tiny bubbles of ancient atmosphere trapped in ice," says the video's description and it is indeed true!

The video follows Severinghaus as he explains the complicated process of measuring what is inside ancient ice and the crucial importance of doing so. He also explains how we know that today's climate change is human-caused, all due to old ice!

We won't give you the details here. You have to watch the video for that. We will tell you you will come to see ice in a whole new way!

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