Final answer:
Antarctic ice cores can reveal climate data such as temperature and carbon dioxide levels, covering a history of up to 420,000 years.
Step-by-step explanation:
Ice cores are valuable archives of climate history, offering insight into past atmospheric components, including greenhouse gases and temperature. As key indicators in climate research, Antarctic ice cores can be analyzed to reveal information for an incredible span of time.
The deepest Antarctic ice cores, such as those obtained from the Russian Vostok station, extend back 420,000 years, providing a detailed record of Earth’s climate over this extended period.
Through measurements of trapped gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂) and isotopic analysis of elements such as deuterium, scientists have been able to infer the temperature and atmospheric composition of the past, thereby constructing a graph that illustrates cycles of warming and cooling relative to Earth's long-term average temperature.