“We have a strong indication that the uppermost 2,480 meters contain a climate record that goes back to 1.2 million years in a high-resolution record where up to 13,000 years are compressed into one meter of ice,” Julien Westhoff from Copenhagen University said in a press statement.

Air bubbles within a deep ice core drilled in Antarctica could reveal why Earth suddenly began to experience longer ice ages nearly 1 million years ago.

Scientists drilled a 2-mile-deep ice core in Antarctica, allowing them to peer back in time at Earth's climate over 1.2 million years ago.

An international team of scientists announced Thursday they’ve successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet, penetrating nearly 2 miles (2.8 kilometers) to Antarctic bedrock to reach ice they say is at least 1.

Led by The Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy (ISP-CNR), the scientists worked for more than 200 days, drilling into the ice and processing the ice core at a remote site in East Antarctica called Little Dome C, with a balmy average summer temperature of -31 degrees Fahrenheit (-35 degrees Celsius).

The ice contains ancient air bubbles, which experts hope could help answer key questions about our planet's climate history. Find out more here.

An ice core was recently drilled out of the Antarctic continent and while it’s impressive in size, its scientific significance cannot be overstated. Experts say it could provide unprecedented climate data going back millions of years.