Scientists lowered a camera into a million-year-old glacier ice and captured a rare view of Earth’s past

Many are curious to understand what lies beneath the surface of the Antarctic ice. For scientists and explorers, it’s not just curiosity, but an unforgiving itch to find the secrets hidden beneath million-year-old layers. One such adventurer, Martin Froger Silva (@martinfroger), joined the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration — STC (COLDEX) on a trip to the Allan Hills in Antarctica to explore glacier ice and what lies beneath, World News Tonight revealed. He spent weeks with the team studying and experimenting to understand where to drill a hole to further venture into the trenches of the ice. Finally, in a video shared on January 8, the team was able to capture footage of around 91 meters of depth. Watching the camera drop into ancient ice felt nothing less than if we were traveling through time, and these explorers were in awe of every bit. 

Over the past few weeks, Silva and his collaborators have been sharing glimpses of their time in Antarctica before they completed their mission. Ahead of drilling a massive hole into the glacier comes extensive research to understand where and how to drill. After spending a few weeks over it all, they were ready to send a camera into the hole. The team drilled 91 meters (298.56 feet) below and secured the camera to a drilling rig before lowering it into the hole. The fast-forwarded video started with a cold blue surface and began speeding into the depths. It soon turned from blue to an eerie grey and eventually a black and white firm ice. A statement from Oregon State University revealed that study lead author Sarah Shackleton, an assistant scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, provided input on COLDEX's recent find. “Ice cores are like time machines that let scientists take a look at what our planet was like in the past. The Allan Hills cores help us travel much further back than we imagined possible,” she noted. 

Due to the hole created by the team, as the camera progressed below, it felt like we were going back in time, just like in the movies. Since the camera gave a personal pov, it was a thrilling journey through the lens all the way down, but actually through different periods of history. “We were all in awe of the beauty of this ancient ice we had spent weeks drilling. Hard work, patience, and ingenuity combined to make this possible,” Silva wrote in his caption. They soon reached a glance of what 3-million-year-old ice looked like, and it had a vintage spark of its own. Finally, they reached the end where rock and snow finally closed the hole. This ice was 5 million years old. It was pure magic. 

In another video, COLDEX explained that they understand where old ice might be, depending on previous research and samples, “Drilling for the oldest ice in the world takes a lot of work and planning done by hundreds of people across dozens of institutions and organizations,” the caption revealed. Furthermore, a radar is used to dig in and get a sample to understand whether there really is old ice to find. The team is now planning to use the samples acquired to do an in-depth study on the planet and other aspects. According to Live Science, the discovery of this 6-million-year-old ice is a treasure. This is not the first time that man has been curious about what lies beneath thick layers of ice sheet, and for good reason. The Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) discovered a new microbial community that had been hidden and survived for thousands of years under 1,085 meters of ice sheets in West Antarctica. A genome analysis conducted on 1,374 single-cell amplified genomes (SAGs), confirmed that most of the species found in the ecosystem of the Mercer Subglacial Lake were unknown.

Despite global warming, the fact that such ancient ice is preserved means hope to researchers. "We're still working out the exact conditions that allow such ancient ice to survive so close to the surface," Shackleton said. Sharing possible reasons, she explained, "Along with the topography, it's likely a mix of strong winds and bitter cold. The wind blows away fresh snow, and the cold slows the ice to almost a standstill. That makes Allan Hills one of the best places in the world to find shallow old ice, and one of the toughest places to spend a field season." @tox99jorge said, "This is the most impressive video I’ve seen so far in 2026." @southsea_louise.a added, "Felt like I just travelled through space. That was incredible." 

You can follow  Martin Froger Silva (@martinfroger) and  COLDEX (@coldex_stc)on Instagram for more content on science and nature. 

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