Antarctic Sub-glacial Lakes
The following animation helps to explain the dynamics of subglacial water exchange and what it looks like from space. Starting from an artist's concept of the Antarctic surface we move down to a cross section of the ice sheet with lakes hidden deep beneath. As pressure is exerted on one lake, the water in it is forced to an adjacent lake. This water movement results in elevation changes at the surface over both lakes, detectable by NASA satellites. The camera then moves to a 'top-down' view of a system of these hidden lakes and streams before dissolving into observed satellite data.
This animation illustrates the dynamics of the network of subglacial lakes far beneath the ice streams of Antarctica.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
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Animator
- Susan Twardy (HTSI)
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Scientists
- Bob Bindschadler (NASA/GSFC)
- Helen Amanda Fricker (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego)
- Ted Scambos (NSIDC)
- Laurie Padman (Earth and Space Research)
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Writer
- Andrew Freeberg (NASA/GSFC)
Release date
This page was originally published on Tuesday, February 27, 2007.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM EDT.
Papers used in this visualization
An Active Subglacial Water System in West Antarctic Mapped from Space