Looking DOWN by Going UP
Antarctica may seem like nothing but ice, but those glaciers cover mountains as tall as the Rockies and a lake almost as big as the state of Connecticut. And the ice sheet itself holds enough water to raise sea level by an estimated 190 feet (58 m) around the world. Radio glaciologists, like Dustin Schroeder of Stanford University, use radar to study the ice and get a glimpse of the hidden landscape below. But they don’t do it by digging down through the ice. They do it by flying high above.
A SECRET LANDSCAPE
Getting a glimpse beneath the icy surface is about far more than exploration. What glacial ice is made of, how cold or warm it is, and whether it is sitting on top of water or bedrock can all dramatically affect how the ice will behave.
