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BEDMAP Collaboration / BAS
This graphic shows the bedrock beneath Antarctic ice. The color scale goes from 2,250 meters below sea level (blue) to 2,250 meters above sea level (red).
A British survey suggests what the Antarctic continent would look like if it were stripped bare of all its ice.
This BEDMAP elevation image of the polar region is based on satellite imagery as well as observations made from planes, ships and even dog-drawn sleds, the British Antarctic Survey reported today. Hamish Pritchard, a researcher from the BAS, presented the digital maps at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in San Francisco.
Less than 1 percent of Antarctica's bedrock projects above the continent's layer of ice, the BBC reported. If all that ice were suddenly taken away, the sea would pour into the dark blue troughs shown on the BEDMAP picture. The light blue area on the graphic indicates the Antarctic continental shelf.
"In many areas, you can now see the troughs, valleys and mountains as if you were looking at a part of the earth we're much more used to seeing, exposed to the air," Pritchard told the BBC. Such imagery has helped scientists trace the roots of the Gamburtsev Mountains, a range of peaks buried two miles (3 kilometers) below the surface of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.
In the picture above, the Gamburtsev range is the deep-red area just to the right of the continent's center. "It's fascinating to see the Gamburtsevs in the context of the other big mountains in Antarctica," Pritchard said.
BEDMAP Consortium / BAS
This graphic provides a sidelong perspective on the Antarctic bedrock, looking inward from the Antarctic Peninsula toward the center of the continent.
This survey of the naked continent, which follows up in far greater detail on an earlier BEDMAP scan, wasn't done merely to fascinate scientists (and the rest of us). Understanding Antarctica's rocky foundation could help climate researchers get a better sense of how the polar ice cap may respond to future climate change.
The key observations included radar soundings that penetrated the ice and bounced off the underlying rock, which told researchers how far down the ice went. Still more airborne surveys need to be made to flesh out BEDMAP's view in detail.
These pictures serve as today's offerings from the Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar, which features views of Earth from space every day from now until Christmas. Check back on Tuesday for the next "treat," and check out these links for previous entries as well as other space-themed Advent calendars:
- Dec. 4: The monster of Madagascar
- Dec. 3: Santa's shrinking domain
- Dec. 2: The masses in Mecca
- Dec. 1: An ornament in outer space
- The full Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar, going back to 2010
- Hubble Advent calendar, presented by The Atlantic's In Focus
- 2011 Zooniverse Advent calendar
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Another great pic/story Alan. Thank you!
The article does not make it clear whether the architecture being described in the map involves merely the removal of the ice, or whether it also includes any rebound that would occur after the ice is removed. If the heavy weight of ice were removed, presumably the land would rise. So, would more of it be above sea level than has been projected above?
What makes you think that the land would rise. It is not like the Antarctic continent floats. There might be some very minimal rise from removal of the compression from the ice, but that would only be from a loosening of the the top layer soil over time, not an immediate effect, and would be insignificant. In any case, I am sure that the image displays the current elevation of the underlying bedrock. Any rise that might occur is likely well within the margin of error of the measurements that have been taken, since this rise due to the loosening of the top layer of soil would be extremely minimal. In addition, any "rise" would be much more than offset by many orders of magnitude by the increase in sea level that would result from a melting of the ice sheet.
Actually, JS in SD, nbg2 is right- Antarctica, and indeed all continents DO float. The tectonic plates that the continents are the highest points of are floating on the molten mantle beneath, and are more flexible than you seem to realize.
The region around the Great Lakes, for example, is still rebounding at the rate of aproximately an inch per century from the most recent ice age. That's not a great amount of difference, to be sure, but it was doubtless rising more dynamically right after the glacial melt occured, some 20,000 years ago.
That was my first thought as well, what about the rebound if the ice mass were removed? Nevertheless quite a fascinating model and images. Anyone else notice how deep some of those fiords would be, way deeper than the continetal shelf in a few places? I don't think that that happens anywhere else so yet another way in which Antarctica shows itself to be the most "alien" of continents on our planet. Thanks for this article Alan.
Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and portions of many other countries are all on the rise from the melting of the mass of ice that was present during the last ice age. So yes JS, Antarctica would indeed rebound.
Seems to make it clear to me that the image is just of the bedrock underlying the ice, rather than any sort of rebound from removing the weight of a mile of ice. Such a rebound would be quite difficult to predict, though this image is a good place to start.
Personally I find it fascinating that the mountains buried under all that ice for the last million years haven't been ground away to nubs, But I guess glaciers have to go downhill from somewhere...
Yes, this is a map showing the bedrock underlying the ice, so I don't think the researchers have factored in the effect of the rebound. I think Triptolemus is right on the money.
i think if all the ice melted it would be less than tht considering the world would become flooded under water
Thanks everyone, I actually learned something interensting this morning, from both the author and your comments. Interesting!
From the image that I see; it appears that there is a possibility of three Volcanos and one large impact zone.
So you're saying the ground is blue and red? LOL, no I don't think it is.
R'lyeh has been at last revealed!! The great god Cthulhu will soon walk the Earth! The signs are everywhere: first Madagascar and now the ancient home of the Old Ones...
Need to start planning my vacation home....shouldn't be too many more years before it's all melted.
Strongly suggest you make it on very high stilts or better yet perhaps an ark.
No under-ice pyramids :-(
That crushed my dreams of waging war with Alien.