In order to predict the evolution of greenhouse gases, it is essential to retrace their past evolution as far back in time as possible. By analyzing ice cores extracted from Antarctica through the EPICA ice coring project, French researchers from LGGE-OSUG and LSCE-IPSL, supported by international partners, have managed to push back the “age” of previous records. For the first time, they have reconstituted the evolution, over 800,000 years, of levels of carbon dioxide and methane, the two main greenhouse gases after water vapor. With these new numbers, the researchers now have access to data which will help them better predict future climate changes on earth. The results are published in two articles in the May 15, 2008, issue of Nature.

Learn more by reading the CNRS press release.