Author: Zhi-Ping Zhong, Research Associate at the Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University

As humans alter the planet’s climate and ecosystems, scientists are looking to Earth’s history to help predict what may unfold from climate change. To this end, massive ice structures like glaciers serve as nature’s freezers, archiving detailed records of past climates and ecosystems – including viruses. We are a team of microbiologists and paleoclimatologists that studies ancient microorganisms, including viruses preserved within glacier ice. Along with our colleagues Lonnie Thompson, Virginia Rich and other researchers at the Ice Core Paleoclimatology group at The Ohio State University, we investigate interactions between viruses and their environment archived in ice cores from the…