World hidden beneath Antarctic ice reveals staggering reality: 'Greater risk'
If you've ever wondered what lies beneath Antarctica's icy surface, then this map will blow your mind. Scientists documenting a hidden rocky world have revealed its terrain includes tall mountains and the deep canyons that no human has ever seen.
The map was created by a team of international scientists led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). Named Bedmap3, it was published in the journal Scientific Data today, and as its name suggests, it's the third attempt to map the continent's rock bed since 2001.
The map includes important revisions, including that Antarctica's thickest overlying ice is at a different part of Australia's Antarctic Territory than previously thought. New data suggests it's at Wilkes Land, not at the Astrolabe Basin. At 4,757 metres, its depth is more than four times the length of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
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As well as being fascinating to see, the map is expected to play an important role in determining how the continent will be modified as climate change warms the planet. BAS Dr glaciologist Hamish Pritchard explained the ground that lies beneath the ice will direct the flow of the melt.
'Imagine pouring syrup over a rock cake – all the lumps, all the bumps, will determine where the syrup goes and how fast. And so it is with Antarctica: some ridges will hold up the flowing ice; the hollows and smooth bits are where that ice could accelerate,' he said.
The cartographers were informed by 60 years of data collected by adventurers on dog sleds, modern satellites, and passengers on ships and planes. They also used radar, sound waves and gravity measurements to build a picture of what the continent would look like without 27 million cubic kilometres of ice.
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Alarmingly, BAS mapping specialist Peter Fretwell believes the revisions show Antarctica could be more 'slightly more' vulnerable to climate change than first thought. If all the ice on the continent was to melt, global seas could rise by more than 58 metres.
"In general, it's become clear the Antarctic Ice Sheet is thicker than we originally realised and has a larger volume of ice that is grounded on a rock bed sitting below sea-level. This puts the ice at greater risk of melting due to the incursion of warm ocean water that's occurring at the fringes of the continent,' he said.
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