Frozen in time

At a remote outpost in the Antarctic, scientists are racing to find the world’s oldest ice and unlock the secrets it holds

Donna Lu

Traversing the world’s most unforgiving continent requires a generous measure of stoicism. “We took risks, we knew we took them,” wrote the Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott in 1912, trapped by a fierce blizzard in the days before he died, on an ill-fated expedition to reach the south pole. “Things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint.” More than a century later, elemental extremes are still an unfortunate fact of life for scientists in Antarctica. Despite three seasons of bad luck that have delayed his team’s quest to find the world’s oldest ice, the palaeoclimate scientist Dr Joel Pedro remained sanguine. He has good reason to be: this southern hemisphere summer, after multiple setbacks and a relocation, a plan years in the making is…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 31 January 2025

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