Scientists in Antarctica spent Christmas Day finishing work that may show the effects of global warming — drilling for clues about how massive ice sheets responded to past temperature changes. The project will be vital to creating a map of how the Earth may react to higher temperatures, scientists say.They gather rock core from deep below the Antarctic sea floor, then analyze it.

Some of the ice shelf‘s disappearance was probably during times when the planet was 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) to 37 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) warmer than it is today — “much like it will be in the next 50 to 100 years,” said Tim Naish, a lead scientist on the project from Victoria University in New Zealand.

“We may not understand the future, but we can understand the past,” said David Harwood, director of the ANDRILL Science Management Office at UNL.

The shelf is believed to be one of the most vulnerable pieces of the sprawling West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which scientists believe may have collapsed during a previous warm period. Scientists have suggested that a naturally occurring period of warmth, exacerbated by high levels of greenhouse gases, could cause an exceptionally quick contraction of ice sheets.

With temperature change comes the acceptance that “we‘re looking blindly into the future,” Harwood said, but the ANDRILL project could at least help establish some expectations.