retreat of Antarctica\u2019s ice sheet<\/p>\n
<\/a>. Previous research indicated that rough terrain like jagged hillsides and mountaintops can slow this retreat.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the most accurate map of Antarctica\u2019s bed shape is crucial because the shape of the bed is an important control on friction acting against ice flow, which in turn we need to include in numerical models that are used to project how rapidly Antarctica\u2019s ice will flow towards the ocean, melt and contribute to global sea-level rise,\u201d said glaciologist Robert Bingham of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, who helped lead the study published this week in the journal Science.<\/p>\n
The researchers were able to map the subglacial terrain with unprecedented precision. For instance, they identified more than 30,000 previously uncharted hills, defined as terrain protuberances of at least 50m.<\/p>\n
Antarctica is about 40 per cent larger than Europe, 50 per cent larger than the United States and roughly half the area of Africa.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/8a0bcef5655d12e594dd757d1bbf25edb3647a2ee5fd124a91454f2818d7a9da.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Glaciers are seen in Half Moon Bay, Antarctica.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: REUTERS<\/p>\n
\u201cIn every case, all of these continents contain an array of very different landscapes in themselves, from towering mountain ranges to immense flat plains. The hidden landscape of Antarctica also contains these vast extremes,\u201d Dr Bingham said. \u201cBoring it is not.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the largest mass of ice on Earth and holds about 70 per cent of the planet\u2019s freshwater. Its average thickness is estimated at about 2.1km, with a maximum thickness of about 4.8km.<\/p>\n
Antarctica has not always been covered in ice. Its subglacial features initially were sculpted before the continent acquired its icy covering more than 34 million years ago before being further modified by the dynamic ice sheet. <\/p>\n
Antarctica once was connected to South America but separated due to a process called plate tectonics involving the gradual movement of continent-sized plates on the Earth\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n
The map revealed a landscape bearing various topographical features.<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly the type of landscape that many people might know less is \u2018plateaus dissected by deep-carved glacier valleys\u2019. I can tell you this is very familiar for Scots, but also a landscape that is common across Scandinavia, northern Canada and Greenland,\u201d Dr Bingham said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, the very fact that the landscape our technique has uncovered across Antarctica matches these landscapes so well gives us great confidence in our new map,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The researchers noted that, until now, the surface of Mars has been better mapped than the subglacial terrain of Antarctica.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, scientists have mapped the subglacial landscape using radar equipment suspended on planes or towed by snowmobiles, according to glaciologist Helen Ockenden of the Institut des Geosciences de l\u2019Environnement in France, lead author of the study.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut these surveys often have gaps of 5km or 10km between them, and sometimes up to 150km,\u201d Dr Ockenden said.<\/p>\n
The method used in the new study, she said, \u201cis really exciting because it allows us to combine the mathematics of how the ice flows with high-resolution satellite observations of the ice surface, and say what the landscape beneath the ice must look like everywhere across the whole continent, including in all those survey gaps\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we really gain a much more complete idea of how all the landscape features connect together,\u201d said Dr Ockenden.<\/p>\n