Like marine sediment cores, ice cores can tell scientists a lot as they examine the layers of snow from which the ice cores are taken. Ice core samples can be taken to determine how much carbon dioxide was in the earth's atmosphere at various times in earth's history. In the Antarctica, scientists have been able to measure back as far as 750,000 years. Gases like CO2 and methane are trapped in bubbles in the ice. One of the limitations of this method is that it can only tell us what the atmosphere was like where the ice is. It can hint at global conditions from that information. Mountain glaciers in Peru, Tanzania and other countries have been examined as well.
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