Expedition To DISCOVER Antarctica's Hidden World!!!!!!!

by **J The Kidd** Thu Oct 16, 2008 1:24 am

Scientists are undertaking the most ambitious Antarctic expedition ever to try and explain why there is a huge mountain range buried 4km under the surface of the icy continent.

The Gamburtsev mountains contain the oldest ice on Earth and match the Alps in scale. They are one of the 'last frontiers' on the planet and have never been seen.

A team of scientists, engineers and pilots from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), USA, Germany, Australia, China and Japan will work together in minus 40C temperatures for the challenging project.

The plane is fitted with 8 radar antennas for the ambitious mapping project.

The subglacial mountains are thought to be the birthplace of the vast East Antarctic Ice Sheet from which the continent formed. This project will reveal clues to how this happened and the best location for future ice core drilling campaigns.

Geophysicist Dr Fausto Ferraccioli of BAS is leading the UK science effort. He said: 'Because of this mission, scientists from six countries are working together to do the unthinkable, to explore the deep interior of East Antarctica - one of the last frontier regions of our planet.

'For two and a half months our international teams will pool their resources and expertise to survey mountains the size of the Alps buried under the ice sheet that currently defy any reasonable geological explanation.

'At the same time, we will hunt for ice that is more than 1.2 million years old. Locked in this ancient ice is a detailed record of past climate change that will assist in making better predictions for our future.'

Working at high altitude in freezing conditions, science teams will operate from two remote field camps to complete the first major geophysical survey to ‘map’ the mysterious landscape that lies beneath the vast ice sheet.

The science teams will use a range of state-of-the-art technologies including ice-penetrating radar to build an unprecedented 3-dimensional view of this secret world.

Professor Nicholas Owens, Director of British Antarctic Survey says, 'There’s an amazing history of our planet locked in Antarctica’s ice and rocks. It’s only now that we have the technology to start uncovering the secrets from this unique natural laboratory.

This is really big science and it can be done only by working with partners from other national Antarctic programmes. It’s exciting, very demanding in terms of physical hardship and logistics coordination, but this joint effort will yield the kind of information that scientists need to understand our past, present and future climate.

'In a changing world, with so much uncertainty about our future it is absolutely crucial for society that we find answers to fundamental questions about our Earth.'