The most direct evidence comes from tiny bubbles of
ancient air trapped in the vast ice sheets of Antarctica.
Perhaps Professor Salby should have acquainted himself with glaciology research before making such comments, because CO2 from
ancient air trapped in the ice cores is precisely what is measured, albeit with some uncertainty in dating some sections.
Locked in bubbles of
ancient air trapped in glaciers is a precise record of carbon dioxide stretching back 160,000 years.
Not exact matches
Researchers have a record of atmospheric carbon dioxide stretching back millions of years thanks to ice cores from Antarctica, which contain
trapped gas bubbles, snapshots of
ancient air.
Scientists can determine
ancient atmospheric concentrations by measuring CO2 and methane levels in tiny
air bubbles
trapped in such ice, formed when the ice fell to the earth as snow.
Confirmation of this idea requires a direct record of the
ancient atmosphere — and this can be recovered by analysing the
air that became
trapped in tiny bubbles within ice as the snow it formed from fell to Earth.
Scientists know that from studying
air bubbles
trapped in
ancient ice in Greenland and Antarctica.
[1] Martian lava tubes could possibly
trap volatiles such as water which is considered essential for life, and may also contain reservoirs of
ancient ice since cold
air can pool in lava tubes and temperatures remain stable.
The forest canopy,
trapping the humid
air beneath, is broken only by the summits of the
ancient man - made structures.
A given year's snowfall is compacted into ice during the ensuing years,
trapping air bubbles, and so paleoclimate researchers have been able to glimpse
ancient climates in some detail.
Hints that warming is being caused by emissions from industry and other human activities have been extracted from
air bubbles
trapped in
ancient ice, from variations in tree rings, from the quick retreat of alpine glaciers.
They drill down into glaciers and study the bubbles of
air trapped in
ancient ice to find more information that can either prove or disprove an important hypothesis.