Overview
- Published in Science, the continent-scale map uses Ice Flow Perturbation Analysis to infer Antarctica’s subglacial landscape from high-resolution surface data.
- It resolves midsized features about 2–30 kilometers across, identifying tens of thousands of previously uncharted hills and a steep-sided valley nearly 400 kilometers long in the Maud Subglacial Basin.
- The approach fills gaps left by sparse airborne and ground radar surveys, connecting landscapes across regions that had never been directly mapped.
- Study authors say improved bed detail will refine estimates of basal friction and ice flow, aiding models used for Antarctica’s future sea-level contribution and guiding where new surveys should focus.
- A related Perspective notes the map is a physics-based reconstruction that depends on assumptions, urging targeted radar, seismic, and other geophysical validation.