THE mystery of what really lies beneath the ice on Antarctica has finally been revealed.
Experts have mapped out the Frozen Continent’s landscape in unprecedented detail, exposing never-before-seen features.
Antarctica‘s thick ice makes it incredibly tricky for scientists to unlock the secrets below – so much so we know more about the surface of some distant planets.
But now clever mapping techniques, using satellite data and the physics of how Antarctica‘s glaciers shift, has been used to work out what might really be hiding underneath.
And the results suggest there are thousands of subglacial hills and valleys buried away.
Their findings include specific geographical details of large mountain ranges and deep canyons, as well as wide valleys.
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“Because making scientific observations through ice is difficult, we know less about the landscape hidden beneath Antarctica than we do about the surface of Mars or Venus,” said Dr Helen Ockenden who led the research.
“So it’s really exciting that this new method allows us to use satellite measurements of the ice surface to fill all of the gaps in our maps, revealing new details about mountain ranges, canyons and geological boundaries.”
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Experts say the findings “fills in a lot of gaps” but warn the method is still not perfect.
However, it does mean we’re “not so blind now”.
“We have a really good impression of where the bed’s quite rough, where you would need to survey closely if you really want to see the details of the features,” said Professor Robert Bingham, a glaciologist at the University of Edinburgh who also participated with the study.
The mapping technique they used to achieve the breakthrough is known as Ice Flow Perturbation Analysis (IFPA).
This identifies characteristic shapes in the glacial surface generated by the ice flowing over hills and valleys.
Scientists then combined the IFPA data with the latest satellite observations to reveal the landscape across all 5.5 million square miles of the continent, including previously unchartered regions.
“This method to project ice surface information from satellites down to the base of the ice provides a completely new way to see through ice sheets,” explained Professor Andrew Curtis, also from the University of Edinburgh.
“Over several years we have proven that it works well in detailed tests and this application across all of Antarctica demonstrates its power.”
Their research was published in the Science journal.
