南極冰蓋下面是什么?

南極冰蓋下面是什么?

The Antarctic ice sheet that for centuries hid a massive canyon has slowly been releasing even more secrets about what lies beneath all that ice.

幾個世紀(jì)以來，南極冰原一直隱藏著一個巨大的峽谷，而現(xiàn)在，冰原下隱藏著更多的秘密。

For the past few years, researchers have been studying the area beneath the ice, one of the largest unsurveyed land surfaces on Earth. Most recently, a team of glaciologists from the University of California, Irvine, have released a detailed topography map of the area.

在過去的幾年里，研究人員一直在研究冰層下的區(qū)域，這是地球上最大的未測量地表之一。最近，來自加州大學(xué)歐文分校的一組冰川學(xué)家發(fā)布了該地區(qū)的詳細(xì)地形圖。

MICHAEL D'ESTRIES

The map, part of the BedMachine project, and the related findings were published in the journal Nature Geoscience. Researchers say the study will help reveal the regions of the continent that will likely be most vulnerable to climate warming.

這張地圖是貝德馬欣項(xiàng)目的一部分，相關(guān)發(fā)現(xiàn)發(fā)表在《自然地球科學(xué)》雜志上。研究人員表示，這項(xiàng)研究將有助于揭示非洲大陸上最容易受到氣候變暖影響的地區(qū)。

Some of the most interesting results from the project, according to the university's release, are the discovery of "stabilizing ridges that protect the ice flowing across the Transantarctic Mountains; a bed geometry that increases the risk of rapid ice retreat in the Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers sector of West Antarctica; a bed under the Recovery and Support Force glaciers that is hundreds of meters deeper than previously thought, making those ice sheets more susceptible to retreat; and the world's deepest land canyon below Denman Glacier in East Antarctica."

根據(jù)該大學(xué)發(fā)布的消息，該項(xiàng)目的一些最有趣的結(jié)果是發(fā)現(xiàn)了“穩(wěn)定的山脊，保護(hù)了橫貫?zāi)蠘O山脈的冰流;床的幾何形狀增加了南極洲西部斯韋茨和松島冰川快速退縮的風(fēng)險(xiǎn);恢復(fù)和支援部隊(duì)冰川下的床比以前想象的更深，使這些冰原更容易后退;南極洲東部登曼冰川下面是世界上最深的陸地峽谷。

The map was created using ice thickness data from 19 research institutes from as far back as 1967, as well as ice shelf bathymetry (depth) measurements from NASA, and seismic information.

這張地圖是根據(jù)19個研究機(jī)構(gòu)1967年的冰層厚度數(shù)據(jù)，以及美國宇航局的冰架水深測量數(shù)據(jù)和地震信息繪制的。

Several years ago, geologists studying satellite imagery of the remote Princess Elizabeth Land in East Antarctica discovered evidence of a massive subglacial canyon system buried beneath the ice.

幾年前，地質(zhì)學(xué)家研究了南極洲東部偏遠(yuǎn)的伊麗莎白公主地的衛(wèi)星圖像，發(fā)現(xiàn)了冰層下有一個巨大的冰下峽谷系統(tǒng)的證據(jù)。

Tipped off by the physical hints, the team of researchers utilized radio-echo sounding to pull back the white curtain and peer through the ice. What they found was an absolute monstrosity of geology, a canyon system believed to be more than 685 miles long and as much as 0.6 mile deep. In some places, the measurements failed simply because they were too deep to be recorded. And there's more:

在物理信號的提示下，研究小組利用無線電回聲探測拉開白色的帷幕，透過冰層窺視。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)的是一個絕對的地質(zhì)怪物，一個超過685英里長，0.6英里深的峽谷系統(tǒng)。在一些地方，測量失敗只是因?yàn)樗鼈兲疃鵁o法記錄。還有更多:

"Linked to the canyons, a large subglacial lake may exist that may be the last remaining large (more then 62 miles in length) subglacial lake to be discovered in Antarctica," the authors wrote in a paper published in Geology. It's estimated that this subglacial lake alone may cover as much as 480 square miles.

作者在《地質(zhì)學(xué)》雜志上發(fā)表的一篇論文中寫道:“可能存在一個與這些峽谷相連的巨大的冰下湖，這可能是在南極洲發(fā)現(xiàn)的最后一個巨大的(長度超過62英里)冰下湖。”據(jù)估計(jì)，僅這個冰下湖就可覆蓋480平方英里。

The geologists believe the canyon system was likely carved out by water. Because it's so ancient, however, it's not clear if it formed before or after it was entombed in ice.

地質(zhì)學(xué)家認(rèn)為，這個峽谷系統(tǒng)很可能是由水雕刻而成的。然而，由于它是如此古老，尚不清楚它是在冰封之前還是之后形成的。

"Discovering a gigantic new chasm that dwarfs the Grand Canyon is a tantalizing prospect," study co-author professor Martin Siegert from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London told IANS. "Our international collaboration of U.S., U.K., Indian, Australian and Chinese scientists are pushing back the frontiers of discovery on Antarctica like nowhere else on Earth."

倫敦帝國理工學(xué)院格蘭瑟姆研究所的馬丁·西格特教授是這項(xiàng)研究的合著者，他告訴亞洲人:“發(fā)現(xiàn)一個比大峽谷還小的巨大新裂口是一個誘人的前景。”“我們與美國的國際合作、英國美國、印度、澳大利亞和中國的科學(xué)家正在把南極洲的發(fā)現(xiàn)邊界往后推，這是地球上其他地方所沒有的。”