Gigantic Remelted Ice Mass Discovered Below Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Unless the South Pole melts, no one is ever going to see the Gamburtsev Mountain Range. The "Antarctic Alps" has been encased beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet for millions of years. Yet thanks to radar and other technologies, scientists have begun to peer through the ice. And in a new study, they've uncovered startling insights into how it formed.

Until now, researchers have assumed the vast majority of the ice that makes up ice sheets forms as snowflakes compact over millions of years. But that may not be the whole story, according to the first major finding from data gathered as part of a seven-nation project known as the Antarctica's Gamburtsev Province (AGAP).

AGAP's focus in the new study was on the so-called "Dome A" region of the Gamburtsev range, the high point of the East Antarctic sheet. To image the ice below the frigid surface, scientists used two Twin Otter aircraft equipped with ice-penetrating radars, laser ranging systems, gravity meters, and sensors that measure magnetic fields. The planes scanned the surface in north-south flights spaced 5 kilometers apart, crossing in east-west lines every 33 kilometers.

Previous studies have found temperatures below the ice sheet, caused by the warmth of the planet below, that could melt water. But scientists thought there was much less meltwater, playing a far less important role in ice sheet structure, than the new work suggests. According to the observations, massive ice blocks seem to form when liquid water—propelled by the pressure of the ice—moves up the steep walls of the Gamburtsev mountains, says lead author and glaciologist Robin Bell of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in Palisades, New York. As the water rises, it encounters lower temperatures and less pressure from overlying ice, so it refreezes.

news.sciencemag.org...

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Makes me wonder if there really is a EA society that may be busy down there. Thinks about Lake Vostok!
Be well

When considering potential UNDER SURFACE BASES I think this would be a prime location due to the location and the mountains possibly providing ancient lava tubes and caverns. One day I hope "they" will use the top notch sats. to view inside the terrain of EA which I am sure some have. But maybe let the rest of the world know its true wonders.

That is pretty cool, it's like the layers of ice act like the earths crust and mantle. It also seems like an incredibly dangerous place, so I don't think you'll be find the entrance to hollow earth or underground bases here the pressures working back and forth must be insane.

I wonder if there is any way into this liquid layer from the ocean surrounding it or if it is a completely isolated system. If the water is liquid and there are always liquid areas, even with high pressures forcing the water around down there maybe bacteria or protazoa survive down there as psychrophiles (miroorganisms that can survive in cold conditions). It would be cool discovering these (if they exist) as they would have been isolated and developed in substancially different ways (than anything we have ever known) over millions of years.
If everyone pools their money ill go check it out

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
It also seems like an incredibly dangerous place, so I don't think you'll be find the entrance to hollow earth or underground bases here

the pressures working back and forth must be insane.

Hollow EA exactly. Maybe with some more advanced BP type rovs and subs you can locate 1.. Entrance that is. And the danger would keep most away.

Thanks for your input to the thread.

reply to post by LetsTouch


1 can only imagine what can still exist down there and its size. The THING anyone just to throw that out there for some mind food. Water bears and others like can survive so who knows. It would be nice to survey. And you would for the right $$$ If you do please post some data..
Thanks