Scientists in Germany are studying a 1.2-million-year-old ice core retrieved from Antarctica after years of planning and months of drilling in temperatures of -35 degrees Celsius (-31 Fahrenheit).

International teams reached depths of 2,800 meters (1.74 miles) into the Antarctic ice sheet to claim the oldest continuous ice core to have ever been drilled. The scientists are now hoping it will unlock vital information about the Earth's climate.

"Ice cores are climate archives, so they tell us something about the climate history of the Earth," said Maria Hörhold, glaciologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), where one of the samples is being studied.

The core contains air bubbles allowing scientists to measure the quantities of greenhouse gases, like CO2, held in........

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