Discover Antarctic secrets

The face that has always been hidden under the ice sheet of Antarctica has been exposed to the world, thanks to the new mapping technology of the US Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA).

The project, called BedMap2, is part of a study of international experts, led by the British Antarctic Survey team, to calculate the ice that extends across the region's surface, according to the report. The Cryosphere.

Image of Antarctic surface being buried under thick ice for more than 30 million years - (Photo: NASA)

This is an important step in trying to predict the future increase of sea level.

To do this, researchers need to know the details of the topography of the continent, from the valleys stretching to the buried mountains.

Some topographic features were revealed after a decade-long survey, which included the discovery of the deepest point of the continent, the valley under the Byrd glacier (which reached an altitude of 2,780m below the water surface). sea).

The world also saw the first images of Gamburtse v, New York-sized rugged mountain ranges buried under more than 1.6 km of ice.

The new map is based on the elevation of the continental surface, the thickness of the ice and the rocky terrain collected from land, air and satellite surveys.