A world sealed for thousands of years beneath Antarctica could reshape scientific understanding of how this icy continent responds to climate change and guide the search for extraterrestrial life.
Scientists conducting research in Antarctica – (Photo: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY)
According to Live Science, there exists a vast aquifer that may have been sealed off from the outside world for thousands of years, harboring organisms that have adapted and evolved in ways completely different from the rest of the Earth.
Dr. Chloe D. Gustafson from the Earth Observatory at Columbia University (USA), the lead author of the study, states that this underground world begins at depths of half a kilometer to 2 kilometers, indicating it must be very large and thick, containing about 20 times the amount of water previously found in the river and lake systems discovered at the ice shelf’s base.
A “Earth MRI technique” at the Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica has revealed this new world. This technique is based on electromagnetic fields moving through the Earth when solar winds strike the ionosphere, stimulating particles within that layer.
These electromagnetic fields generate secondary fields in the ice, snow, and sediment. By combining this with various modern magnetometer instruments, scientists can achieve what is known as a mega-MRI or “Earth MRI.”
According to Daily Mail, researchers are still unclear whether there is water exchange within this underground world or with other structures of the ice stream. Water exchange between the shallow and deep systems could influence the development of the organisms residing there, affecting how they source nutrients and adapt to their new environment.
This discovery is also exciting news for astronomers, as they have long suspected that many icy celestial bodies, such as Jupiter’s moon Europa or Pluto, may contain an underground world beneath their permanent ice surfaces. This could either be an underground ocean or a smaller sealed underground world similar to what has just been discovered in Antarctica. It is believed to be a hiding place for extraterrestrial life.
