The Earth , traditionally a planetknown forhavingice capsat either pole , is quickly shaking its stale report , as its white regionsheat upbeyond recognition . That makes predicting theincreasingly impendent resultsof global heating a top precedency for scientists seek to sympathise the future of the planet – and nowhere is that more important than down at the lily - snowy butt of the planet , Antarctica .

“ Antarctica is arguably the most susceptible arctic neighborhood to mood , ” point out a paper , published in the journal Nature Communications . “ West Antarctica has warmed 2.4   ±   1.2 ° light speed [ 4.3 ± 2.2 ° F ] between 1958 and 2010 , making it one of the quickest - warm regions globally . ”

And to calculate out what that means for our major planet ’s most southwards continent , the researchers behind the study – an international grouping led by team from Germany and Australia – have change state to the yesteryear . Way , way in the past , in fact . Using a new technique known as aqueous ancient DNA ( sedaDNA ) analysis , they ’ve just light upon the oldest nautical DNA on record – and it was cover in the deep - sea sediments of the Scotia Sea , just north of Antarctica .

“ This comprises by far the onetime authenticate marine sedaDNA to date , ” said Dr Linda Armbrecht , the jumper lead investigator from the University of Tasmania , Australia , in astatementon the study . Indeed , at more than 1 million days old , the DNA is about as sometime as the two previous record holder combined : ~400,000 - year - sometime cave sediment , discoveredin 2003 , and ~650,000 - year - old permafrost deposits from Siberia which were studiedearlier this yr .

But as nerveless as that is , it ’s not necessarily the most of import effect of the study itself . That title or else last to a much untried contender : the half - million - year - old remains of diatom , a eccentric of phytoplankton that lived in the area back when it wasgoing throughone of its warmer period .

In fact , these phytoplankton were found in teemingness across the timescale : “ extremum teemingness of diatoms [ was confirmed ] between 12.7 and 11.3   [ thousand year ] … i.e. , during the Antarctic Cold Reversal of the last glacial expiry , ” the author save .

What the researchers found was a radical shift in the prehistoric shipboard soldier ecosystem , time intimately with premature point of sudden heating . The proportion of diatom among eukaryotes – organism with membrane - resile karyon – shot from one in 10 to one in two during the last thawing period 14,500 yr ago , and apparently caused a sharp gain inocean productivityaround Antarctica .

“ This is an interesting and important variety ” , noted Dr Michael Weber , a paleoceanographer from the University of Bonn , Germany , and second author of the cogitation . “ [ It ] is consociate with a man - encompassing and speedy increase in sea levels and massive loss of ice in Antarctica due to lifelike heating . ”

The study ’s succeeder is grounds that techniques such as sedaDNA – relatively new and unproved ways of surveying the biological world around us – can be viable puppet over huge timescales , opening up a whole mountain chain of applications for paleoceanographers and climate researchers .

“ Because hereditary tincture of all organisms , fossilizing and soft - bodied , can potentially be preserved in sediment records , the analysis of sedaDNA obtain tremendous potential to go beyond received environmental proxies and allow reconstruction of total ecosystems , ” the author save . “ Yet , the recovery of sedaDNA is complicated , as only trace - amounts of deoxyribonucleic acid are preserved and they are fragmented and degraded , which make sedaDNA prostrate to taint from mod environmental DNA . ”

But now , the doors are wide open . “ Our finding[s ] … are substantial for paleoecology , as they enlarge the worldly window of applying sedaDNA analysis as a maritime paleo - environmental monitoring tool from ~140 [ thousand old age ] to ~1   [ million years ] , i.e. , deal multiple glacial - interglacial cycles , ” they explain .

After all , environmental DNA depth psychology – of which sedaDNA analytic thinking is one model – has already proven its apocalyptic chop in the realm ofpandemic protectionand queer species preservation . ball-shaped warming , and thepost - ice-skating rink worldwe may soon be live in , is perhaps a natural next step on that impressive résumé .

The report is issue in the journalNature Communications .