This undated image released on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026 by the Ice Memory Foundation, shows the Concordia Station, where the Ice Memory Sanctuary is being built in Antarctica for ice cores from the Alps carrying the memory of Earth’s current atmosphere, which are preserved at a temperature close to -52\u00b0C\/-61\u00b0F for future generations of scientists to study. (ENEA PNRA via AP)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-01-14T13:47:06Z<\/p>\n
ROME (AP) \u2014 Scientists in Antarctica on Wednesday inaugurated the first global repository of mountain ice cores, preserving the history of the Earth\u2019s atmosphere in a frozen vault for future generations to study as global warming melts glaciers<\/a><\/span> around the world.<\/p>\n An ice core is something of an atmospheric time capsule, containing information about the Earth\u2019s past changes in a frozen climate archive. With global glaciers melting at an unprecedented rate, scientists have raced to preserve ice cores for future study before they disappear<\/a><\/span> altogether.<\/p>\n The Ice Memory Foundation, a consortium of European research institutes, inaugurated the frozen sanctuary on Wednesday at the Concordia station in the Antarctic Plateau. The foundation livestreamed the ceremonial ribbon cutting and opening of the frozen cave where the ice samples will be kept for future generations. <\/p>\n The first two sets of samples of Alpine mountain ice cores were drilled out of Mont Blanc in France and Grand Combin in Switzerland and arrived at the station after a 50-day refrigerated icebreaker and plane journey from Trieste, Italy. <\/p>\n During the inauguration ceremony, pairs of foundation team members brought box after box of ice cores into the cave, burrowed deep into a 5-meter (yard) high compacted snow drift at a constant temperature of around -52\u00b0C\/-61\u00b0F.<\/p>\n