A two-mile deep Grand Canyon-sized valley has been discovered beneath the ice of West Antarctica.
A group of scientists from the Edinburgh, Exeter Universities, University of Bristol's Glaciogy Centre, and the British Antarctic Survey have used satellites and ice-penetrating radars pull behind snowmobiles and on-board small aircraft mapping the Ellsworth Sub-glacial Highlands, a mountain range in West Antarctica that extend west-southwest from the central Ellsworth Mountains to the vicinity of Mount Moore and Mount Woollard. By looking at and integrating data collected over three seasons, they discovered a massive trough 200 miles long and 15 miles across. In addition, the floor of the trough was over one mile below sea level.
Even though being covered deep down the ice, the valley is so huge that it can be seen from space, according to Dr. Neil Ross, a professor of geology at Newscastle University who leads the study.
"The discovery of this huge trough, and the characterization of the surrounding mountainous landscape, was incredibly serendipitous." He added. In fact, it sheds light on the origin as well as the behavior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Perhaps it provides an important clue on climate change over the earth, particularly a series of winter storm with below-freezing temperatures gripped many cities across the northern U.S past few weeks. While many attribute the cold weather to a "polar vortex" surrounding the Northern hemisphere, scientists say it can be due to climate change in Antarctica.
"Antarctica is one of the key drivers of the global climate system," Tony Press, head of the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre in Hobart, Australia, told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Will there be any possible link between the discovery of the valley with the frigid winter in America this year?
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