A RADARSAT Map of Antarctica

Scientists Find Lakes Under Antarctica
AP and Reuters
AOL Wire Services

WASHINGTON (Feb. 15) – Beneath the snow, ice and bitter cold of Antarctica, scientists — using space-based lasers — have discovered a network of lakes that fill and empty with rapidly flowing water.

It’s a finding that may improve understanding of the interaction between global warming and the melting of Antarctic ice, which could contribute to a worldwide rise in ocean level.

Researchers studying data from satellites were able to measure rises and falls in the overlying ice as the lakes filled and emptied. More than 100 lakes have been found in West Antarctica, according to research published Thursday in the online issue of the journal Science.

The ice above the lakes is moving as fast as two yards a day – “really ripping along” in the words of Robert Bindschadler of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, one of the study’s co-authors.

“It’s the fast-moving ice that determines how the ice sheet responds to climate change on a short timescale,” he said in a statement.

“We aren’t yet able to predict what these ice streams are going to do. We’re still learning about the controlling processes. Water is critical, because it’s essentially the grease on the wheel. But we don’t know the details yet,” he said.

Here is the full article.

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