All Things Considered

Radar Reveals Dynamic World Under Antarctica's Ice

By Jon Hamilton

Published November 4, 2009 4:00 PM

E-MAIL
|

A NASA DC-8 plane equipped with lasers, ice-penetrating radar, and a gravity meter is revealing a dynamic and complex world beneath the massive ice sheet that covers Antarctica.

The plane is flying over Antarctica for six weeks as part of a mission to use airplanes to replace a dying NASA satellite that's been monitoring polar ice.

But the stopgap measure is providing a major scientific bonus: The DC-8 flies just 1,500 feet above the ice and carries instruments that let scientists see right through the ice.

"It's going to change the way that we look at Antarctica," says Thomas Wagner, a NASA Cryosphere Program scientist.

The Antarctic ice sheet covers an area larger than Europe. In places, it's miles thick. If the sheet ever melts, sea level will rise by dozens of feet.

Beneath The Ice

Scientists have known for years that there are volcanoes, mountains, rivers and lakes beneath the ice. But they haven't known many details about these things.

The NASA flights offer a way to learn a great deal more, says William Krabill, a member of the NASA team flying on the DC-8. For example, the plane carries a special radar that lets scientists study the topography of the land beneath the ice sheet, he says. Another instrument detects tiny changes in gravity fields and can reveal liquid water beneath the ice.

The flights are letting scientists burrow down through the layers of ice to see rivers and lakes and the valleys carved by moving glaciers, Krabill says, like "peeling an onion."

And scientists have already found some really surprising stuff happening inside the ice itself:

"There are these lakes that form and they literally seem to pop and deflate," Wagner says. "We just learned about this literally in the last couple of years, and we're finding new ones all the time."

If the water in those lakes gets under the ice, it could act as a lubricant and speed up a glacier's movement toward the ocean. That could speed up sea-level rise, scientists say.

For the same reason, scientists are curious about something going on at the place where glacial ice is carving a channel through dirt and rock, Wagner says.

"One of the most important unknowns right now is what is the shape of the bed under the ice," he says. "You need to know that in a very, very precise way to make models that accurately reproduce ice flow."

Seeing Through Ice With Radar

Much of that information is coming from special radars on the DC-8 that produce images in vivid colors on a computer monitor as the plane flies over a targeted area. The images provide a rough sketch of the bed beneath the ice, says Chris Allen from the University of Kansas, who is in charge of the radars.

The radar data will be refined in the coming months, and then combined with information from the lasers and the gravity meter to create a more complete picture of an Antarctica that's been hidden for millions of years.

"We are looking at structures like you see along the coast of Norway, these kinds of deep fiords," says Michael Studinger of Columbia University, who runs the gravity meter.

Right now, these Antarctic fiords are filled with ice, Studinger says. But global warming could eventually change that.

Related Links

View audio transcript

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Michele Norris.

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

And I'm Robert Siegel.

The Antarctic ice sheet covers an area larger than Europe. In places, it is miles thick. If it ever melts, sea levels would rise by dozens of feet. So, NASA is spending six weeks using an airplane to take a close-up look at what's happening to the continent. Until now, Antarctica had been studied mostly by satellites.

As NPR's Jon Hamilton reports, the flights are revealing a dynamic and complex world beneath the ice.

JON HAMILTON: The NASA DC-8 now flying over Antarctica is equipped with technology that lets scientists see right through the ice.

Mr. WILLIAM KRABILL (Glaciologist, National Aeronautics and Space Administration): As we fly along with our laser system, measuring the surface height, we can take along an ice-penetrating radar that will tell us the bottom topography.

HAMILTON: NASA's Bill Krabill says that in some parts of the continent, that topography includes volcanoes and mountains.

The NASA plane also carries an instrument that detects tiny changes in gravity fields to reveal liquid water beneath the ice. Krabill says the flights are letting scientists burrow down through the layers to see rivers and lakes.

Mr. KRABILL: It's analogous to peeling an onion.

Dr. THOMAS WAGNER (Cryosphere Program Scientist, National Aeronautics and Space Administration): It's going to be a really amazing thing, and it's going to change the way that we look at Antarctica and change the way we look at the poles overall.

HAMILTON: Thomas Wagner is program scientist for NASA's Cryosphere Program, which studies the frozen parts of the Earth. He says once you get beneath the surface of a glacier, you can find some really surprising stuff happening inside the ice.

Dr. WAGNER: There are these lakes that form, and they literally seem to pop and deflate, and then another lake will flow downstream and fill up another one, and we just learned about this literally in the last couple of years, and we're finding new ones all the time.

HAMILTON: If the water in those lakes gets under the ice, it could act as a lubricant and speed up a glacier's movement toward the ocean, and that could speed up sea-level rise.

For the same reason, Wagner says, scientists are even more curious about something going on at the place where glacial ice is carving a channel through dirt and rock.

Dr. WAGNER: One of the most important unknowns right now is what is the shape of the bed under the ice, and it turns out you need to know that in a very, very precise way to make models that accurately reproduce ice flow even as we see it today.

HAMILTON: The NASA flights are part of a larger effort to use airplanes in place of a dying satellite that was a major source of data on polar ice. Planes can't entirely replace a satellite tracking changes in the ice over many years, but they offer a scientific bonus in the form of all these new details about what's beneath the ice.

Chris Allen from the University of Kansas is in charge of several radars on the NASA flights. He says that once the plane gets over a designated patch of ice, his radars start to produce images in vivid colors on his laptop.

Professor CHRIS ALLEN (Electrical Engineering, University of Kansas): Just a first pass, we can get what the bed looks like in many instances, and the scientists on board are kind of keen on that. So they're gathering around a monitor and seeing what it looks like.

HAMILTON: The radar data will be refined in the coming months. Then it will be combined with information from the lasers and the gravity meter to create a more complete picture of an Antarctica that's been hidden for millions of years.

Michael Studinger from Columbia University helps run the gravity meter.

Dr. MICHAEL STUDINGER (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University): We are looking at structures like you see along the coast of Norway, these kinds of deep fjords. And right now, these fjords are filled with ice in Antarctica. In Norway, where the glaciers have retreated, you can actually walk in these fjords and see the place that has been occupied by a glacier tens of thousands of years ago.

HAMILTON: The question is: Will there be a day when people can walk through the fjords of Antarctica too?

Jon Hamilton, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

Source: NPR

WBUR Topics

SUPPORT