A new map has unmasked the landscape beneath Antarctica's ice in unprecedented detail, something scientists say could greatly enhance our understanding of the frozen white continent.
Researchers used satellite data and the physics of how Antarctica's glaciers move to work out what the continent might look like beneath the ice.
They found evidence of thousands of previously undiscovered hills and ridges, and say their maps of some of Antarctica's hidden mountain ranges are clearer than ever before.
While the maps are subject to uncertainties, the researchers believe the new details could shed light on how Antarctica will respond to climate change - and what that means for sea-level rise.
It's like before you had a grainy pixel film camera, and now you've got a properly zoomed-in digital image of what's really going on, lead author Dr. Helen Ockenden, a researcher at the University of Grenoble-Alpes, told BBC News.
Thanks to satellites, scientists have a good understanding of Antarctica's icy surface – but what lies beneath has remained more of a mystery. In fact, more is known about the surface of some planets in our Solar System than much of Antarctica's underbelly – the topography beneath the ice sheet.
But researchers now have what they believe to be the most complete, detailed map of that underbelly ever made.
I'm just so excited to look at that and just see the whole bed of Antarctica at once, said Prof. Robert Bingham, a glaciologist at the University of Edinburgh who co-authored the study. I think that's amazing.
Traditional measurements from the ground or air have used radar to see beneath the ice - which is up to three miles thick in places - often along individual survey lines or tracks.
But these tracks could be tens of kilometers apart - leaving scientists to fill in the gaps. Researchers used a new approach, combining their knowledge of the ice surface from satellites and their understanding of how the ice moves from physics.
The scientists' new approach has revealed tens of thousands of previously undiscovered hills and ridges, as well as greater detail around some of those mountains and canyons buried under the ice.
One intriguing discovery is a deep channel, incised in Antarctica's bed in an area called the Maud Subglacial Basin. The channel is on average 50m deep, 6km wide, and runs for nearly 400km.
While the researchers' new map provides vital insights, they acknowledge that assumptions about ice flows introduce uncertainties. Nonetheless, it offers an opportunity to fill gaps from previous surveys.
A more detailed understanding of the ridges, hills, mountains, and channels could improve computer models of how Antarctica might change in the future, which is crucial for predicting global sea-level rise.
The study is published in the academic journal Science.
