New map exposes vast subglacial world beneath ice sheet in Antarctica

A newly developed map of Antarctica has unveiled the continent’s hidden subglacial landscape in unprecedented detail, offering scientists critical new insights that could improve climate change projections.

According to Newsweek, an international team of researchers led by the University of Edinburgh has produced the most comprehensive map to date of the terrain buried beneath Antarctica’s vast ice sheet.

Although Antarctica spans an area roughly twice the size of Australia and contains around 70 per cent of the Earth’s freshwater, much of what lies beneath its ice—averaging two kilometers thick and exceeding five kilometers in some places—has remained largely unknown. Scientists have often noted that we know more about the surface of Mars than about the bedrock beneath Antarctica’s ice.

To overcome this challenge, the research team applied a technique known as Ice Flow Perturbation Analysis (IFPA). The method uses the physics of ice movement to infer the topography below, identifying surface patterns formed as glaciers flow over hills and valleys. The researchers then combined IFPA findings with the latest satellite observations to reconstruct the concealed landscape across the entire continent.

“This method to project ice surface information from satellites down to the base of the ice provides a completely new way to see through ice sheets," said paper author and geoscientist Professor Andrew Curtis in a statement. “Over several years we have proven that it works well in detailed tests and this application across all of Antarctica demonstrates its power.”

The mapping effort has revealed major mountain ranges, deep canyons, wide valleys and tens of thousands of previously undocumented hills and ridges in areas that had never been fully charted.

“Because making scientific observations through ice is difficult, we know less about the landscape hidden beneath Antarctica than we do about the surface of Mars or Venus," said paper author Helen Ockenden—now based at 'Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement, Grenoble—in a statement.

“So it’s really exciting that this new method allows us to use satellite measurements of the ice surface to fill all of the gaps in our maps, revealing new details about mountain ranges, canyons and geological boundaries.”

As Newsweek reports, understanding subglacial terrain is critical for predicting how Antarctica’s ice sheet will respond to rising global temperatures. Previous studies have shown that rough bedrock—such as jagged hills and sharp ridges—can slow glacier retreat by increasing friction as ice flows toward the sea.

By Sabina Mammadli