Nature & Environment
Exploring The Lands Beneath The Antarctic Ice Sheets
Elaine Hannah
First Posted: Jul 22, 2016 04:32 AM EDT
Underneath the Antarctic ice sheets are lands yet to be explored. These include waterways and lakes and the grandest of canyons.
According to a study, there are about over 400 subglacial lakes that exist across the bed of the Antarctic Ice sheet. They are of the variety of sizes and volumes, which from approximately 250 kilometers long Lake Vostok to bodies of water less than 1 kilometer in length. Some of them are active lakes and some are isolated hydrologically for millions of years.
The largest lake under the ice is Lake Vostok, which is also the sixth-largest lake by volume. It has an average depth of 430 meters and lies under some 3.5 km of ice, according to IFL Science.
BBC News also reported that researchers also discovered a vast, unrecognized canyon system underneath the Antarctic ice sheet. In a geographical survey that confirmed its existence, the winding canyon network is about more than 1,000 kilometers long and could be deep as 1 kilometer. The system is seen in a region called Princess Elizabeth Land. It could be bigger than the amazing Grand Canyon in the U.S.
Dr. Stewart Jamieson from Durham University in the UK said that when they look in Princess Elizabeth land with satellite data, there seem to be some linear features in the surface ice that to them to look very reminiscent of a canyon. He further said that they have traced this faint lineation from the center of Princess Elizabeth Land all the way to the coast, off to the north and it is a pretty substantial system.
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First Posted: Jul 22, 2016 04:32 AM EDT
Underneath the Antarctic ice sheets are lands yet to be explored. These include waterways and lakes and the grandest of canyons.
According to a study, there are about over 400 subglacial lakes that exist across the bed of the Antarctic Ice sheet. They are of the variety of sizes and volumes, which from approximately 250 kilometers long Lake Vostok to bodies of water less than 1 kilometer in length. Some of them are active lakes and some are isolated hydrologically for millions of years.
The largest lake under the ice is Lake Vostok, which is also the sixth-largest lake by volume. It has an average depth of 430 meters and lies under some 3.5 km of ice, according to IFL Science.
BBC News also reported that researchers also discovered a vast, unrecognized canyon system underneath the Antarctic ice sheet. In a geographical survey that confirmed its existence, the winding canyon network is about more than 1,000 kilometers long and could be deep as 1 kilometer. The system is seen in a region called Princess Elizabeth Land. It could be bigger than the amazing Grand Canyon in the U.S.
Dr. Stewart Jamieson from Durham University in the UK said that when they look in Princess Elizabeth land with satellite data, there seem to be some linear features in the surface ice that to them to look very reminiscent of a canyon. He further said that they have traced this faint lineation from the center of Princess Elizabeth Land all the way to the coast, off to the north and it is a pretty substantial system.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone