Oddly enough, researchers say the landscape is hiding under an ice sheet

Jun 16, 2014 20:03 GMT  ·  By

According to the findings of a recent investigation, there is more to Greenland than meets the eye. Thus, evidence indicates that a warped, frozen landscape is hiding in this part of the world.

In a paper published in yesterday's issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers detail how, with the help of ice-penetrating radars, they found that peculiar formations are lurking under an ice sheet in northern Greenland.

At first, it was assumed that these formations, some of which are similar to skyscrapers in height, were no more and no less than huge piles, or maybe simple chunks of rock, The Guardian informs. However, this was not the case.

On the contrary, it appears that this odd-looking landscape that has recently been discovered in Greenland is entirely made of ice. Simply put, the ice sheet is hiding formations that, despite being made of the same material, are very different to it.

To help put things into perspective, the specialists who worked on this research project have agreed to share one of the radar images obtained during this investigation with the public. The image is available below, and the ice formations are the ones in blue.

“They simply look spectacular. Everything was just flat parallel lines. That is how ice is supposed to be. But here it is breaking all the rules,” said Kirsty Tinto, a geophysicist with Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory in the United States.

“You get these crazy, folded, distorted, overturned, undulating things at the bottom of the ice, and they are the size of skyscrapers,” the researcher further commented on the discovery of these odd-looking ice formations trapped under an ice sheet in Greenland.

Although this is yet to be confirmed, it is believed that the ice formations came into being as a result of the melting and refreezing of water found at the bottom of the ice sheet. Specialists say that, due to climate change and global warming, it is possible that other such structures will form in the years to come.

“We see more of these features where the ice sheet starts to go fast. We think the refreezing process uplifts, distorts and warms the ice above, making it softer and easier to flow,” explained Robin Bell, study leader and geophysicist at Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory.

As detailed in the journal Nature Geoscience, this frozen landscape that has recently been discovered in Greenland sits about 1 miles (1.6 kilometers) below the surface of the ice sheet hiding it. Of the structures that form it, some measure as much as 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) in thickness.

Radar images reveal odd-looking frozen landscape hidden under an ice sheet in Greenland
Radar images reveal odd-looking frozen landscape hidden under an ice sheet in Greenland

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Researchers find frozen underworld in Greenland
Radar images reveal odd-looking frozen landscape hidden under an ice sheet in Greenland
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