WORLD
NASA map shows what Antarctica would look like without ice
Baku, June 13 (AZERTAC). The Antarctic continent is a frozen landscape of snow and sleet, but a new map from NASA exposes what the region would look like if all the ice were to disappear.
NASA released an animation this week revealing what lies beneath the planet`s largest ice sheet. It`s based on new data compiled by scientists at the British Antarctic Survey over the last two decades, including surface elevation readings and ice thickness data measured with ice-penetrating radar.
The result is Bedmap2, an updated map of the continent using 15 million additional measurements since 2001. It provides a clearer picture of the terrain underneath the ice, including surface and sub-ice features that were too small to be seen in previous measurements.
An animated view of Antarctica and Greenland`s shrinking ice sheets
"Before we had a regional overview of the topography, but this new map, with its much higher resolution, shows the landscape itself; a complex landscape of mountains, hills and rolling plains, dissected by valleys troughs and deep gorges," Peter Fretwell, from the British Antarctic Survey, said in a release.
The study was recently published in the journal The Cryosphere.
The researchers discovered that Antarctica`s average bedrock depth, deepest point and ice thickness are greater than previously thought.
The findings will give researchers a better understanding of the continent`s landscape and ice sheet as well as the influence it has on the climate and the surrounding oceans.