Correct interpretation of ice-core records requires that the glaciological and atmospheric conditions of the ice sheet in the immediate vicinity as well as the regional context are adequately known. This not only applies to current situations, but also to the past, where transient behaviour (for example dome position, temperature profile, ice flow) might have changed the overall conditions. Such information cannot be retrieved from the ice-core itself but requires a suite of methods to be applied in the borehole as well as in the surrounding area of the borehole, and up to hemispheric and global scales. It encompasses, for instance, basal properties, temperature distribution in the ice sheet, surface mass balance rates, surface topography, firn properties, ice velocity and physico-chemical compositions of precipitation and atmosphere at the ice-core site. Taken together this information will support the ice-core interpretation. As preparation for immediate comparison of the ice-core based palaeo proxies, WP5 will also compile the existing palaeo-records covering the MPT in other climate archives.