Hidden World Found Under Antarctica

VIVA – A hidden world has been found 500-meters below the ice in Antarctica continent. The researchers lowered the camera through the borehole and found the little creature such as shrimp. Not only that, they also found a river along the bottom of the cave chamber under the ice.

Although the discovery was made hundreds of kilometers away from the edge of the Ross Ice Sheet, it is believed that the river empties from the sea.

“For a while, we thought something was wrong with the camera, but when the focus improved, we noticed a swarm of arthropods around 5mm in size,” said Craig Stevens from the National Institute of Water and Atmospherics Organization.

As reported from Metro Page on Saturday, June 11, 2022, researchers had known that there was a network of rivers and lakes beneath Antarctica. But, they have never observed it directly.

“We were jumping up and down because having all those animals swimming around our equipment means that there’s clearly an important ecosystem there.” Stevens said.

The team has lowered instruments in the river to observe the 'hidden world' below. Meanwhile, researchers are investigating the composition of the water.

In March, researchers observed the collapse of an Antarctic ice sheet nearly the size of London, the capital of England.

The collapse of the ice sheet holding up the Conger and Glenzer glaciers captured by satellite imagery, it makes the first time in human history that the frigid region of East Antarctica has experienced ice sheet collapse.

The continent of Antarctica is divided into East and West Antarctica, with the Transantarctic Mountains separating the two halves. In West Antarctica, the ice is more unstable than in the east. Thus, melting and collapsing ice sheets are often captured by researchers.