A team of Chinese scientists has discovered 46 subglacial lakes under the Antarctic ice sheet using a new analysis method that improves the accuracy of the search, local media reported this Sunday.
“The study of subglacial lakes in Antarctica is of great importance to understand the dynamics of the ice sheet, sedimentary processes, subglacial geochemical cycles and the evolution of life,” explained the expert from the China Polar Research Institute. (IIPC), Tang Xueyuan, quoted by the official Xinhua agency.
Antarctica is covered by an ice sheet with an average thickness of more than 2,400 meters and under which there are numerous lakes formed when meltwater filters through depressions in the bedrock on which the plate rests.
The new method used by the Chinese researchers uses a variational encoder to analyze the characteristics of the reflection from the bottom of the ice sheet, a reflection whose data is previously collected by radar.
In this way, the team was able to scan radar images in the AGAP-S region of eastern Antarctica, detecting 46 lakes characterized by smaller geometric contours than those previously identified using conventional methods.
Experts from IIPC, Wuhan University of Geosciences and Southern University of Science and Technology participated in the research.
So far, 675 subglacial lakes have been detected under the Antarctic ice sheet, of which only three have been able to be excavated to take samples.
China began its scientific expeditions to Antarctica in 1984 and has developed a series of research projects on the environment, natural resources and biodiversity of the white continent.
In February, the Asian country completed the construction of its fifth research station in the region, located on the coast of the Ross Sea and which will also be the third that will operate all year round, along with the Changcheng and Zhongshan bases.
