What do air bubbles in ice cores preserve?

Samples of the ancient atmosphere

What did Greenland cores reveal about past climate change?

Temperatures sometimes jumped several degrees in decades

Changes always took millions of years

How can scientists count years in Greenland ice?

By counting tree rings in the ice

What human activity from Roman times is recorded in Greenland ice?

Lead pollution from silver mining and smelting

Why do Antarctic cores reach further back than Greenland's?

Antarctic snowfall is lower so layers are thinner and older

Greenland has no ice before 1900

Greenland Ice Core Quiz: What Ancient Ice Reveals

Bubbles sealed inside Greenland's ice still contain air from the last ice age, and this Greenland ice core quiz shows what scientists learn from it. Play 10 questions on Camp Century, GRIP and GISP2, oxygen isotopes, sudden warming events and the Roman lead pollution found in the layers.

Start Greenland Ice Core Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Depth
Roughly how deep did the GRIP and GISP2 cores reach in the early 1990s?
First
Which 1966 project drilled the first deep core through the Greenland ice sheet?
Bubbles
What do air bubbles in ice cores preserve?
Isotopes
Which measurement in the ice acts as a thermometer for past temperatures?
Scientist
Which Danish scientist pioneered isotope studies of ice cores?
Abrupt
What did Greenland cores reveal about past climate change?
Layers
How can scientists count years in Greenland ice?
Volcanoes
How do volcanic eruptions show up in ice cores?
Romans
What human activity from Roman times is recorded in Greenland ice?
Age
Why do Antarctic cores reach further back than Greenland's?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Roughly how deep did the GRIP and GISP2 cores reach in the early 1990s?
Answer: About 3 kilometers
Both projects drilled through roughly 3 km of ice to near the bedrock of central Greenland.
Q2: Which 1966 project drilled the first deep core through the Greenland ice sheet?
Answer: Camp Century
Camp Century, a US military base inside the ice, reached bedrock at about 1,387 meters.
Q3: What do air bubbles in ice cores preserve?
Answer: Samples of the ancient atmosphere
As snow compacts into ice, it traps air that records past levels of carbon dioxide and methane.
Q4: Which measurement in the ice acts as a thermometer for past temperatures?
Answer: The ratio of oxygen isotopes
Heavier oxygen-18 is less common in snow from colder periods, so the ratio reveals past temperatures.
Q5: Which Danish scientist pioneered isotope studies of ice cores?
Answer: Willi Dansgaard
Willi Dansgaard showed how isotopes record climate; abrupt warmings are named Dansgaard-Oeschger events after him and Hans Oeschger.
Q6: What did Greenland cores reveal about past climate change?
Answer: Temperatures sometimes jumped several degrees in decades
The cores show abrupt warmings during the last ice age, some of 10 degrees Celsius or more within a few decades.
Q7: How can scientists count years in Greenland ice?
Answer: By counting annual snow layers
Seasonal differences create yearly layers that can be counted like tree rings, especially in the upper part of the core.
Q8: How do volcanic eruptions show up in ice cores?
Answer: As spikes of sulfate and ash
Sulfuric acid and ash from big eruptions fall on the ice sheet, leaving dated markers.
Q9: What human activity from Roman times is recorded in Greenland ice?
Answer: Lead pollution from silver mining and smelting
Lead levels rose and fell with the Roman economy, carried by wind from Europe.
Q10: Why do Antarctic cores reach further back than Greenland's?
Answer: Antarctic snowfall is lower so layers are thinner and older
Low snowfall in East Antarctica let the EPICA core record about 800,000 years, while Greenland's oldest continuous record is around 120,000 years.

Greenland Ice Core Quiz – Reading Climate in Ancient Ice

The Greenland ice sheet is up to 3 km thick and built from snowfall that has been compressed over thousands of years. Scientists drill cylinders of ice, called cores, to study the layers.

The first deep core came from Camp Century in 1966. In the early 1990s, the European GRIP and American GISP2 projects drilled to near the bedrock. Air bubbles preserve old atmosphere, and oxygen isotope ratios, studied by Willi Dansgaard, reveal past temperatures.

Greenland cores showed that climate can shift abruptly, with Dansgaard-Oeschger warmings during the last ice age. They also record volcanic eruptions as sulfate spikes and even lead pollution from Roman mining, showing how far human activity reached.

What This Quiz Teaches

Science students and climate readers will find useful facts here.

How ice cores are drilled
What bubbles preserve
How isotopes show temperature
What abrupt changes looked like
What pollution the ice recorded

Did You Know?

Cores are stored in freezers at about minus 30 Celsius.
The NEEM project reached ice from the last warm period.
Dust layers show windier glacial climates.
Ice near bedrock can be folded and harder to date.
Greenland ice also traps pollen and soot.