July-August, Volume 87, No. 4

Figure 2. Different equipment is used for coring ice depending on the depth of the sample to be taken. At left is the rig for collecting samples up to 3,000 meters in depth. At right is an ice-core drill for depths of less than 200 meters. Analysis of ice cores for isotopes, such as oxygen-18 and deuterium, trapped gases, dust particles and thickness of layering can reveal much about the climate of the past.