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Scientists Discover Huge Cavity in Glacier - Ibex Expeditions

Antarctica Matters: Scientists Discover Huge Cavity in Glacier

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Scientists Discover Huge Cavity in Glacier - Ibex Expeditions

Scientists recently discovered a massive cavity under Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier. The cavity is a result of rapid melting of ice, according to NASA.  The Thwaites Glacier has been considered unstable by scientists. The discovery of the underwater cavity could cause a rapid decay to the glacier. The cavity itself is two-thirds the area of Manhattan and about 1000 feet tall. It is big enough to hold about 14 billion tons of ice, most of which melted in three years, say researchers.

Rising sea levels are caused by melting of ice sheets, and thermal expansion of the oceans. A NASA press release stated that the melting of the glacier is responsible for 4 percent of the world’s rising sea levels.

Source: The New York Times.

Keeping the urgency to protect this pristine land in mind, we at Ibex Expeditions, in partnership with Polar Latitudes, will be taking our second expedition to Antarctica in March this year. Led by artist and explorer Himali Singh Soin, this journey with a purpose is meant to turn all participants into Antarctica Ambassadors, pledging to support all causes related to preserving the big white continent.

Previously, our Antarctica journey has been supported by United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNTWO), Ecotourism Society of India (ESOI), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Skal International, and World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).

Antarctica Matters

Antarctica Matters: Scientists Discover Graveyard of Continents Beneath Ice

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Antarctica Matters - Ibex Expeditions

Antarctica has been called the least understood continent of Earth. Recently, data from a discontinued European satellite reveals that the ice sheet beneath eastern Antarctica is a graveyard of continental remnants. The research, led by Jörg Ebbing, a geophysicist at Kiel University in Germany, reported their discovery earlier this month in Scientific Reports.  They created 3-D maps of the southernmost continent’s tectonic underworld and found that the ice has been concealing wreckage of an ancient supercontinent’s spectacular destruction. The pieces may have been assembled a billion years ago, when the supercontinent Rodinia was built, or as recently as 500 million years ago, when another supercontinent, Gondwana, came together. Either way, what has been found beneath Antarctica is part of what’s left after Gondwana’s dissolution, around 160 million years ago.

Why is this important to know? Because knowing the rock that sits beneath the largest ice sheet in the world will help understand global warming, as subglacial geology influences how ice shifts as the climate changes.

Source: The New York Times

We are leading a journey to Antarctica in March 2019. Send us an email at ibex@www.ibexexpeditions.com to find out more about this epic voyage.