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Rivers found beneath antarctic ice
Written by SerenaStargazer
Sunday, 23 April 2006
Rivers as big as the Thames that may connect sub-glacial lakes have been found deep under the Antarctic ice, scientists said on Wednesday. British researchers who discovered the plumbing system that moves water hundreds of miles said it challenges the notion that the lakes under the Antarctic ice evolved independently and could support ancient life. The research, which is reported in the journal Nature, also means that water from the Antarctic lakes, which were first discovered in the 1960s, could have flowed into the ocean in the past and that it could happen again. About 150 sub glacial lakes have been discovered in Antarctica but researchers believe there could be thousands. Lake Vostok, at 15-20 million years old, is thought to be the most ancient. Scientists from UCL and the Natural Environment Research Council Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling found the rivers by examining changes in measurements taken by the European Space Agency ERS-2 satellite of a region in East Antarctica known as the Dome Concordia. They suspect the changes in the ice sheet show a flow of water from one sub-glacial lake to others. The scientists believe when the pressure in one of the lakes increases, a flood fills the next bead down the string. But they do not know whether the flow of water which melts ice causes a chain reaction down the string.

source: Reuters
 
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