This Is What Antarctica Will Look Like Without All That Ice
You’re looking at the most detailed map yet of the Antarctic landmass. Stripped clean of all its ice, the polar continent exhibits a number of interesting features, including vast mountain ranges, sprawling plains — and the lowest gorges and valleys that have ever been seen on Earth.
The map, which was compiled by scientists working at the British Antarctic Survey, was pieced together by a system called Bedmap2. It was a technique that pulled information from satellite imagery, radio echoes of ice thickness, seismic techniques, and cartographic data.
Among the more surprising discoveries was a new deepest point. The area immediately under Byrd Glacier in Victoria Land is 1.7 miles (2.8 kilometers) below sea level. That’s 400 meters deeper than the previously identified deepest point.
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