揭示南极冰盖下的地貌

Uncovering Antarctica’s ice-draped landscape The mesoscale topographical variability beneath a continent-scale ice sheet is revealed Duncan A. Young Earth’s largest ice sheet covers more than 14 million km2 (5.4 million square miles) of Antarctica, obscuring the landscape underneath. This subglacial topography (called bed), which includes mountain ranges, plains, deep valleys, basins, and lakes, controls glacial ice flow and affects the shape of the Antarctic ice sheet’s surface. Consequently, information on the underlying landscape is critical for projecting ice sheet evolution. However, the detailed subglacial landscape of the Antarctic ice sheet remains unclear. On page 314 of this issue, Ockenden et al. …