128,000-year-old ice in Tibet could rewrite climate history

Ancient ice discovered high in Tibet may be more than 128,000 years old, preserving an extraordinary record of Earth’s climate that scientists previously thought had been lost. The discovery reveals a rare glimpse into the last ice age and could reshape our understanding of how glaciers survive dramatic changes in global climate. 128,000-year-old ice in Tibet could rewrite climate history.

The discovery suggests that ice high in the mountains has survived since the last ice age and could provide an extraordinary window into Earth’s ancient climate. The findings extend the known glacial record from the region by more than 100,000 years, making these the oldest ice cores ever recovered from this part of Tibet. They also offer rare evidence of how mountain glaciers endured major changes in Earth’s climate.

Researchers reached their conclusions by examining ice cores collected from the Guliya Plateau in 1992 and 2015. Despite being drilled 23 years apart, the samples revealed strikingly similar patterns of oxygen isotopes, which scientists use to reconstruct past environmental conditions. The close match indicates that the ice has preserved a reliable and reproducible record of climate history.