Researchers drop camera into Antarctica borehole to reveal astounding view of Earth's oldest layers of ice

It is amazing to see how our Earth offers us so many vivid places to discover if only one observes. Even something as plain as frozen land full of ice has much in its abyss. PhD student Austin Carter (@austincarter642), from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography decided to take a camera through the East Antarctic ice sheet to explore the oldest layers of ice in the region. He collaborated with the Center for Old Ice Exploration (COLDEX), which aspires to extract the continent's oldest ice. Carter's aim was to travel to the bottom of the spot and see what lies underneath. Sharing the results in a video, Carter left the audience amazed by what his camera recorded. 

Carter and his team dug two boreholes of 314-foot and 672-foot to study the ice core to learn more about the Earth's climate history, as per The Antarctic Sun. As the video started, the camera captured a glimpse of presumably him or his team member on the top surface of the ice sheet. He waved at the camera which slowly moved into a hole carved into the sheet. In the text overlay, Carter wrote, “You are now entering the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.” He revealed that he dug an ice core in Allan Hills to try and see how deep they can go and what they can find at the base of the same.

The camera moved through a tiny circle, just enough to fit and move the camera downwards in a straight line. The video was sped up to go through the many, many layers of ice and to reach the base. The curiosity to observe the ice core came after Carter and his team discovered one of the oldest ice ever, recorded to be 2.7 million years old. The camera kept moving downwards at a fast pace, and there was such a depth that it didn’t seem to end. One can only imagine how deep the hole must have been that despite having the video fast-forwarded, it took time to reach the base.

The camera went through the hole, surrounded by ice and there wasn’t much visible except a hole going further down and a few cracks. Carter revealed that they hoped to find older ice, if at all, for further study. “We hope to find even older ice to learn about the fundamental properties of our climate system.” Finally, after feeling like one has been falling into nothing for a long, long time, the camera revealed the bottom of the ice core.

The view wasn’t too clear and there was some snow at the bottom of the core after which Carter mentioned, “You have reached the bottom of the ice core.” In a comment, Carter revealed that the bottom had rock along with some ice and deposits. Several people were curious and baffled at the same time. Many even tried to guess the depth of the core dug by Carter and his team. @terrawan said, “I would say something between 4-5 meters?” @idiotsayswhat_ wrote, “Felt like I was driving through an interdimensional portal.” @positivecookiesmedia added, “I felt cold just by watching.” @deejlishious remarked, “That's beautiful, thank you for sharing.”

You can follow Austin Carter (@austincarter642) on TikTok for more content on the study of ice.