2,000-year-old ice core extracted from Alpine glacier

Scientists drilled 33 feet into the Weißseespitze glacier in the eastern Alps and recovered a 2,000-year climate record.

The ice core reveals ancient silver mining, massive forest fires, and far-off volcanic eruptions from the Roman era (year 128) to 1641.

The research, led by Azzurra Spagnesi of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, was published in Frontiers in Earth Science.

The core traps airborne particles like dust, smoke, and metals, preserving a history of European air quality before industrial pollution.