Vast hidden canyons and mountain ranges discovered in Antarctica
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Scientists have discovered mountain ranges and a series of vast canyons buried deep under the ice near the South Pole in western Antarctica.
The discoveries, made with the help of ice-penetrating radar during an aerial survey of the polar region, came as a surprise to the scientists.
"We expected to find mountainous subglacial topography, but the size of the troughs did come as a surprise because we had no indication that they were there," Dr. Kate Winter, a research fellow at Northumbria University in the U.K. and the lead author of a paper about the discoveries published in the journal "Geophysical Research Letters," told NBC News MACH in an email.
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The biggest of the three canyons, named Foundation Trough, is more than 20 miles wide and spans a distance of more than 215 miles, or roughly the distance from Washington, D.C. to New York City. Patuxent Trough spans more than 180 miles while the Offset Rift Basin spans more than 90 miles.
If the canyons are big, so are their possible environmental implications.
Global warming could cause the polar ice sheet to thin, and the size and orientation of the canyons could speed the rate at which ice flows from the center of the continent to the sea — a phenomenon that would raise global sea levels and possibly lead to the flooding of coastal areas around the world.
The global warming appears to be rather insignificant at present, according to the graph.
According to that scale it does look insignificant.
Yet it is interesting how warm and cold periods turn on a dime, so to speak.
Fascinating article It seems like the ice was like icing on a cake, making everything look smooth, but not in reality. Who would have thought there was a mountain range there?
As for global warming.. hard to make a call. Good news is that we are having volcanic explosions which cools the earth, and the sun is going to go into a cooling stage in the next 13 years. The bad news is, that we are still warming..
You know that old Chinese curse.. "May you live in interesting times."
I don't think of it as a curse these days, because besides living in an interesting time, I'm living an interesting life in an interesting place.