3-minute read

Getting to the core of climate change

Thompson's research helps open a window into the climates of centuries past
An illustration of a climate scientist.

Lonnie Thompson, a distinguished university professor at Ohio State, has spent his career uncovering clear evidence of global warming.

His specialty? Ice cores — long columns of ice that hold perfectly preserved records of Earth's climate and air quality. Thompson has led some 80 scientific expeditions in search of glacial ice, including a 2019 trek to the mountain Huascarán in rural Peru, where he and his team faced an angry mob of villagers suspicious of their work.  

Drilling and preserving ice cores isn't easy, but Thompson believes it's vitally important to the future of our planet. Click the video below to learn more about Thompson's trip to Huascarán and what he's hoping to accomplish through his study of ice cores. 

Video by Matt Stoessner

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