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EPICA Dome C · Antarctica

Coreward

A single ice core holds eight hundred thousand years of sky. Scroll down to descend through it — every faint ruling in the ice is about 2,000 years — and hear the ancient air: warm eras glow and sing high, ice ages fall dark and low.

421ppm CO₂ · today
In all 800,000 years below, CO₂ never once crossed 300. The bar to the right is now.

Tap ► enable audio for the sound. Set your local temperature as you descend, and the record translates into weather you can feel.

scroll to descend▼
100k yrs
200k yrs
300k yrs
400k yrs
500k yrs
600k yrs
700k yrs
5,000 yrsall of written history fits above here
11,700 yrsthe last Ice Age ends
↕ each faint line ≈ 2,000 years
800,000 years · the floor of the core
scroll back up to return to the surface