This study investigated ancient ice in the Elephant Moraine, East Antarctica. Using geophysical surveys and chemical analyses, we found surface ice of around 320 000 years old and ice thickness ranging from 200 to 800 m. These findings suggest that the Elephant Moraine region may preserve ice over 1 million years old at depths of several hundred meters. Recovering such ice is a key goal in paleoclimate research to better understand the climate history of Earth.

We present a new and highly resolved atmospheric CO₂ record from the Siple Dome ice core, Antarctica, over the early Holocene (11.7–7.4 ka). Atmospheric CO₂ decreased by ~10 ppm from 10.9 to 7.3 ka, but the decrease was punctuated by local minima at 11.1, 10.1, 9.1, and 8.3 ka. We found millennial CO₂ variability of 2–6 ppm, and the millennial CO₂ variations correlate with proxies for solar forcing and local climate in the Southern Ocean, North Atlantic, and eastern equatorial Pacific.

Blue-ice areas (BIAs) have several advantages for reconstructing past climate. However, the complicated ice flow in the area hinders constraining the age. We applied state-of-the-art techniques and found that the ages cover the last deglaciation period. Our study demonstrates that the BIA in northern Victoria Land may help reconstruct the past climate during the termination of the last glacial period.