NPR

Scientists: Long-Buried Ice Age Forest Offers Climate Change Clues

The remarkable discovery of an intact ancient cypress forest in the Gulf of Mexico may reveal a lot about climate change — the past and the future.
Ben Raines, an environmental reporter for AL.com, holds pieces of wood he collected from a cypress forest discovered in the depths of the Gulf of Mexico. A scientist says having an intact forest from the Ice Age is rare.<strong></strong>

About 10 miles off the Alabama coast, Ben Raines falls gently backwards from a boat into the Gulf of Mexico, a scuba tank strapped to his back and handsaw on his belt. He's on a mission to collect cypress samples from 60-feet below.

"We're going to cut some pieces as if we were in a forest on land," says Raines, an environmental reporter with AL.com.

A fellow diver first brought Raines here after a local fisherman discovered the site. He had hit

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