Scientific discovery in West Antarctica could put further pressure on the world to rapidly lower emissions

Analyses will help to reveal how far the West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated in the past — and what it might do in the future.

Scientists have just got their hands on a 228-metre (748-foot) core sample from the muddy bedrock beneath West Antarctica’s chunky ice sheets. Inside the record-breaking sample, they discovered fossils of marine organisms that date from a time when this area was an open, ice-free ocean.