A new image of Antarctica shows what it looks like under the ice, according to Fox News via Live Science.
The images called Bedmap2 shows what the area would look like without the ice. It's a product of work led by the British Antarctic Survey and NASA, the goal is to measure the total amount of ice that covers Antarctica.
The purpose of the project is to find out the potential of the sea rising in the future, and how high.
"In order to accurately simulate the dynamic response of ice sheets to changing environmental conditions, such as temperature and snow accumulation, we need to know the shape and structure of the bedrock below the ice sheets in great detail," said Michael Studinge, who is working on the Icebridge project.
The study lasted ten years, and during that time the scientists collected some very valuable data.
The study found the lowest point ever discovered, a valley under the Byrd glacier that is 9,120 feet below sea level. They also captured images of the Gamburtsev Mountains, which is a mountain range the size of New York.
To see the images click here.
The images were based on "surface elevation, ice thickness and bedrock topography from land, air and satellite surveys." They were made using electromagnetic instruments, radar, and soundwaves.
"Before, we had a regional overview of the topography. But this new map, with its much higher resolution, shows the landscape itself, a complex landscape of mountains, hills and rolling plains, dissected by valleys, troughs and deep gorges," said Peter Fretwell, a scientist with the British Antarctic Survey and author of the study.
The images found the same volume of ice that they had originally measured with Bedmap, the previous image map. Bedmap2 found deeper valleys and bedrock and thicker ice than had been previously estimated, according to NASA.
"It will be an important resource for the next generation of ice sheet modelers, physical oceanographers and structural geologists," said Fretwell.
