France, Jan. 14 -- Scientists have begun preserving invaluable records of Earth's climate history in an ice sanctuary in Antarctica. The sancturay is designed to protect ice cores from glaciers that are rapidly disappearing due to global warming.

The first samples, taken from two glaciers in the Alps, have been stored at Concordia Station, a French-Italian research base located 3,200 metres above sea level.

Buried about nine metres beneath the snow, the purpose-built cave maintains a constant temperature of -52degC, allowing the ice to be preserved naturally without artificial refrigeration.

"We are the last generation who can act," said Anne-Catherine Ohlmann, Director of the Ice Memory Foundation."It's a responsibility we all share. ...