Overview
- The peer-reviewed map, published January 15 in Science, uses Ice Flow Perturbation Analysis with high‑resolution satellite data to infer subglacial topography across the continent.
- Led by Helen Ockenden with colleagues including Robert Bingham, the international team filled large gaps left by airborne and ground radar surveys to produce the most detailed continent‑scale view to date.
- The reconstruction identifies a diverse hidden landscape—mountains, deep canyons, valleys, plains, and lakes—and resolves mesoscale features roughly 2 to 30 kilometers across.
- Findings include tens of thousands of previously uncharted hills and a steep‑sided valley stretching nearly 400 kilometers in the Maud Subglacial Basin.
- Scientists say improved bedshape detail should reduce key uncertainties in ice‑sheet models, while experts caution the IFPA approach depends on assumptions and requires targeted geophysical validation before it becomes definitive.