What is hidden under the ice of the South Pole?

During the summer season at the South Pole, scientists have made several attempts to explore what lies beneath the thick ice. were used acoustic, seismic methods for studying , has also been studied and the atmosphere. This year, experts have received more or less detailed view of what lies ice.

Images posted below shows the landscape of the area, "solid ground", so to speak. Top - more than 3 kilometers of ice. It is worth noting that scaling the X axis and Y different.

process of "freezing" of the South Pole was delayed for many tens of thousands of years. Over many years of snow falling here, compressed and turned into layers of ice. The process is quite long, has led to increased ice layer. Now, as mentioned above, a layer of ice in many places the South Pole is more than 3 kilometers.

At the same time, scientists were able to obtain an image of the individual layers of ice, which is a kind of "annual" rings, which can be seen on many things, not only about the age of the ice cover. For example, each of the layers is unique in composition. And the characteristics of each layer can be judged on the composition of the atmosphere of the Earth at different times. Chronology of reference - from the beginning of freezing ​​South Pole to the current moment.




When you click on the picture to open the original image (3, 5 MB) i>

By the way, radar data displayed in the image have been obtained for a long time - back in 1998, experts from UTIG ( University of Texas Institute for Geophysics a >).

These data are now being used by scientists who have decided to carry out deep drilling thickness of the ice at the South Pole. The goal - well depth of 1, 5 kilometers and seizure of ice samples for analysis. 1, 5 kilometers - about 40 thousand years. Analysis of samples of ice will help to create a detailed picture of climate change and the environment during this period.

Source: geektimes.ru/post/243441/