Scientists Uncover a Lost Ghost World Under Antarctica’s Ice

Bright Side

Two fascinating discoveries push our understanding of Antarctica far beyond the icy surface we know. One reveals a preserved ancient landscape - rivers, valleys, and entire blocks of land frozen in place for more than 30 million years. The other uncovers strange signals rising from deep beneath the ice, hinting at hidden activity in one of the most remote and mysterious regions on Earth.  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00The South Pole is more than penguins and endless snow.

00:04There's a hidden ghost world within it.

00:06Look, it's right here on the globe.

00:08Don't confuse Antarctica with the Arctic, which is at the top of our maps.

00:12Much smaller in size, and, let's face it, way less mysterious.

00:17The ice sheet covering Antarctica is about 1 to 3 miles thick,

00:22which is up to 16 Eiffel Towers stacked on each other.

00:25This massive blanket hides the true features and contours of Antarctica's land.

00:32We still don't know much about this mysterious continent,

00:35and it is ice and snow that are to blame.

00:38We still don't even know the true shape and size of this continent.

00:42Mapping Antarctica without some huge shovels is an incredibly hard task,

00:47but satellites learned to penetrate the ice with their cameras,

00:51and now we know there's actually an enormous, dramatic, ancient landscape beneath the snow.

00:57The ghost of the past.

01:01About 90 million years ago, Antarctica was a much warmer place.

01:06It was actually a lush rainforest with tons of plants and probably teeming with life.

01:11It even had rivers flowing through it.

01:13Then the ice came.

01:15This happened about 34 million years ago,

01:18during the transition from the Eocene to the Oligocene,

01:21when our planet cooled significantly.

01:24It was the beginning of one of our several ice ages.

01:27The land remained, but now was hidden under ice and snow that got thicker and thicker.

01:33To a regular eye, Antarctica turned into a white desert.

01:38Vast, flat, and featureless.

01:41Time went on.

01:44This massive ice sheet moved around,

01:46smoothing and shifting the ground beneath it.

01:49Over the millions of years, it changed what the land looked like.

01:53Now, if we looked under the ice,

01:54it wouldn't hold any signs of the original South Pole.

01:58Except for one place.

02:00In areas where the ice is especially thick and doesn't move much,

02:04like in East Antarctica,

02:06it has actually worked the other way around.

02:08It became like a super-thick blanket that protects the land.

02:14Normally, things like wind or rain slowly wear away the ground over time,

02:18changing its shape.

02:20But since we have this protective ice blanket,

02:23it prevents these natural processes from reaching the stuff underneath.

02:26So, the ground stayed almost the same for millions of years,

02:31like it's been frozen in time.

02:33This special area near the Aurora and Schmidt subglacial basins

02:37has become the ghost of Antarctica's landscape.

02:41This place was barely touched,

02:43even since it was first covered in snow 34 million years ago.

02:46This is a historical footprint,

02:49a place that can tell us what Antarctica's ground

02:52looked like before it became a freezing nightmare.

02:56As scientists peered under East Antarctica,

02:59they saw an amazing ghost.

03:01The traces of the rivers that were flowing there millions of years ago,

03:05various valleys,

03:07and some weird little islands,

03:09as well as three big chunks of land,

03:12shaped like the letter U.

03:13Hey, what's that all about?

03:17You see, the continents on our planet are moving constantly,

03:21sliding along the red-hot lava mantle like cereal on milk.

03:25Over history, they came together and broke apart several times.

03:30Hundreds of millions of years ago,

03:32several continents were a part of one enormous Gondwana.

03:36Antarctica was one of them.

03:38It used to be one huge landmass.

03:41But when Gondwana broke apart,

03:43the poor continent got stretched by tectonic forces.

03:47Parts of land were pulled away from each other.

03:50Whoosh!

03:51And they got torn apart.

03:53And that's how we got these big chunks or blocks of land,

03:56under thick layers of ice.

03:59In any case,

04:00scientists now want to explore this ghost a bit more.

04:04But to study it deeply,

04:05they need to actually drill down through the ice,

04:07like using a straw to get to the bottom of a thick shake.

04:11This will help them pick up some rocks and dirt from way below

04:14to learn more about the Earth's history and climate.

04:18Antarctica is the fifth largest continent in the world,

04:22approximately bigger than the entirety of Europe or Australia,

04:26competing with the entire South America in size.

04:29Aside from East Antarctica,

04:31we discussed there are several more regions.

04:34Antarctica Peninsula,

04:36South Pole,

04:37West Antarctica,

04:38and the Ross Sea.

04:40The continent is basically a frozen sandbox,

04:44and all its hidden, mysterious landscape

04:46is actually less explored than Mars' terrain.

04:49We only know for sure that without ice,

04:52it wouldn't just be flat and empty,

04:54but an entire world full of big mountains,

04:58huge canyons,

04:59and even fiery volcanoes.

05:02Some of these volcanoes are so huge

05:05that they peak above the layers of snow.

05:07In West Antarctica alone,

05:09there are at least 138 volcanoes,

05:12though only about eight or nine are active today.

05:15One of the craziest ones is Mount Erebus,

05:19the southernmost volcano

05:20and the tallest one on the continent,

05:23about 12,500 feet high.

05:26And deep beneath the ice sheet,

05:27this guy hosts incredible,

05:29beautiful sub-volcanic caves.

05:32The temperatures there are warm enough for T-shirts.

05:36The Antarctic Peninsula,

05:38or Lesser Antarctica,

05:39looks like a bunch of mountainous islands

05:41deeply underground.

05:43It has newer volcanic rocks

05:45that are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire,

05:47which is like a giant circle of volcanoes

05:49and earthquake zones

05:51around the Pacific Ocean.

05:54The Greater Antarctica is a huge part,

05:57almost as big as Australia.

05:59It consists of East Antarctica

06:00and the South Pole.

06:03Beneath the ice,

06:04it's a place of rocks

06:05that have been around

06:06for a very, very long time,

06:08including the special zone we mentioned.

06:11You probably know that Antarctica

06:13is nearly devoid of humans.

06:16No wonder,

06:17with a mean temperature

06:18of about minus 46 degrees Fahrenheit.

06:21But even though this place

06:23is horrifyingly cold and deserted,

06:25life still clings on.

06:27You guessed it,

06:28in the underworld.

06:30In 2017,

06:31scientists found DNA traces

06:33of algae,

06:34moss,

06:35and even possibly unknown

06:36small animals

06:37in the deep caves.

06:39That means that

06:39even in such crazy conditions,

06:42there are still unique ecosystems

06:43thriving

06:44in little isolated

06:45warm pockets

06:46beneath the snow.

06:48There was another incredible find

06:50beneath Antarctica's

06:51Ross Ice Shelf,

06:53a lively ecosystem

06:54vibing within an underground river.

06:58Scientists have long suspected

06:59that Antarctica's underworld

07:01should have some freshwater lakes

07:03and rivers.

07:04One day,

07:05a satellite spotted

07:06a groove there.

07:08They decided to explore it

07:09and used a hot water drill

07:11to melt their way

07:12through the ice.

07:14As they reached

07:15the underworld,

07:16they dropped a camera

07:17into one of those

07:17hidden fresh rivers.

07:19And at first,

07:20they thought they'd find

07:21just some rocks or something.

07:23But instead,

07:24they stumbled upon

07:25hundreds of amphipods,

07:27tiny shrimp-like creatures.

07:29Little ones

07:30instantly swarmed

07:31around the lens.

07:33Shrimps blocked the camera

07:34and scientists

07:34couldn't check out

07:35what they wanted to.

07:37Pretty funny,

07:38but at least that means

07:39that there really is

07:40an important ecosystem

07:42deep within Antarctica.

07:44Now,

07:44they're gonna explore it.

07:46And all this

07:47is just the beginning

07:48of the mysterious underworld.

07:51Antarctica's snow

07:51also hides

07:52the deepest canyon on Earth

07:54under the Denman Glacier.

07:56Well,

07:57Mariana Trench

07:57is still the deepest point

07:59on Earth,

08:00but it's a part

08:00of the oceanic crust,

08:02geologically speaking.

08:04Also,

08:05in 1958,

08:07explorers found

08:07a huge mountain range

08:09under the ice,

08:10as big and tall

08:11as the famous

08:12Alps Mountains.

08:14The range stretched

08:14for about 745 miles

08:17with peaks

08:18as high as 1.7 miles.

08:21And all this magnificence

08:22is buried

08:23under tons of ice.

08:25Who knows what else

08:26we might find there?

08:26Antarctica holds

08:29about 60%

08:30of our entire planet's

08:31freshwater,

08:32which means

08:33it would be pretty bad

08:34if it melted.

08:36For example,

08:37there's this

08:38Doomsday Glacier,

08:39officially known

08:40as Thwaites Glacier.

08:42It's a huge ice formation,

08:43about the size of Florida,

08:45and it's melting

08:46right now.

08:47Every year,

08:48the sea levels rise

08:49by 4%

08:50because of it.

08:51If this guy

08:52melts away completely,

08:53the sea levels

08:54all around the world

08:55will increase

08:56by 2 feet,

08:57which might not

08:58sound like a lot,

08:59but it would be

09:00catastrophic

09:01for coastal areas.

09:03Luckily,

09:03researchers have found

09:04that even if

09:05its ice shelf

09:06were to collapse

09:07in the next 50 years,

09:08the glacier itself

09:09wouldn't retreat

09:10as quickly

09:11as they feared.

09:12It's still losing

09:13ice rapidly,

09:14but it would be

09:15quite a slow process.

09:17A vast expanse

09:20of white snow,

09:21freezing winds,

09:22lifeless landscapes,

09:24and weird,

09:25eerie signals

09:25seemingly coming

09:27from within Earth.

09:28These radio pulses

09:30occur in Antarctica,

09:31and no one can figure

09:33out what they are

09:34and where they're

09:35coming from.

09:37You see,

09:37scientists are running

09:38an experiment

09:39called ANITA,

09:40short for

09:41Antarctica Impulsive

09:42Transient Antenna.

09:43Basically,

09:44it's a bunch of detectors

09:45strapped to giant balloons

09:46and floating way up

09:48above the South Pole.

09:50Their job is to detect

09:51extremely high-energy

09:53neutrinos.

09:54How do they spot them?

09:56Right at the moment

09:57when neutrinos

09:58come into contact

09:59with ice

09:59and produce an intense,

10:01short burst

10:02of radio waves.

10:04Now,

10:05neutrinos are these

10:06tiny,

10:07almost massless

10:08particles that don't

10:09have an electric charge.

10:10They're everywhere,

10:12and billions of them

10:13are flying through you

10:14every second,

10:15even while you're

10:16watching this video.

10:18Neutrinos come from

10:19all over the place,

10:21from the Sun,

10:22exploding stars,

10:23deep space,

10:25even from under

10:26your feet.

10:27The Sun pumps

10:27them out non-stop

10:28as it fuses

10:29hydrogen into helium.

10:31Stars that are

10:32going off blast out

10:33huge bursts of

10:34neutrinos

10:35during supernova

10:36explosions.

10:37When high-energy

10:38cosmic rays hit

10:39our atmosphere,

10:41they make new

10:41neutrinos that rain

10:42down on us, too.

10:44And some even

10:45come from radioactive

10:46stuff decaying

10:47inside Earth.

10:49The oldest neutrinos

10:51have been flying

10:52through the universe

10:53since the Big Bang,

10:54but they're

10:55practically invisible,

10:57because they almost

10:58never react with

10:59anything.

11:00That's why scientists

11:01use unbelievable

11:03experiments like

11:04Anita to try

11:05and catch even

11:06a few of them.

11:08But let's get back

11:09to that fateful day

11:10when everything

11:10changed.

11:11Normally,

11:13the radio signals

11:13produced by

11:14neutrinos bounce

11:16off the ice

11:16and fly upward.

11:18That's where

11:19Anita can catch

11:20them.

11:21This is the whole

11:22point of the

11:23experiment,

11:23to study neutrinos

11:25and learn more

11:25about distant

11:26cosmic events

11:27like supernovas

11:28or whatever's

11:29happening light

11:30years away.

11:31But then something

11:32really weird

11:33happened.

11:34The detectors

11:34picked up radio

11:35waves that weren't

11:36bouncing off the

11:37ice at all.

11:38They looked like

11:39they were coming

11:39from below the

11:40horizon.

11:41from under the

11:42ice.

11:43Now, this

11:44shouldn't even

11:45be possible.

11:46According to

11:47everything we know

11:48about physics,

11:49signals can't just

11:50travel upward

11:51through solid rock

11:52and ice.

11:53One of the

11:54researchers,

11:55Stephanie Wiesel

11:56from Penn State,

11:57also said that

11:58those radio waves

11:59were coming in

12:00at super steep

12:01angles, like 30

12:02degrees below

12:03the surface.

12:04The only way

12:05that could happen

12:06is if the signal

12:07had passed through

12:07thousands of miles

12:08of solid rock

12:09before hitting the

12:10detector.

12:11But if that

12:12were true,

12:12the rock

12:13would have

12:13completely

12:14absorbed it.

12:15So, something

12:16just didn't

12:17add up.

12:18The team ran

12:18all the numbers

12:19and still got

12:20no clear answer.

12:21But for them,

12:22it was an

12:23interesting problem,

12:24since they didn't

12:25actually know

12:26what those

12:26anomalies were.

12:28What they did

12:29know was that

12:30they were probably

12:31not neutrinos.

12:33That's because

12:34if the team

12:34does detect a neutrino,

12:36that means

12:37it's traveled

12:37an insane distance

12:39without bumping

12:39into anything,

12:40possibly all the way

12:41from the edge

12:42of the observable

12:43universe.

12:44So, whatever

12:46Anita has picked up,

12:47it's not behaving

12:48like anything

12:48scientists have seen

12:49before.

12:50It might mean

12:51there's some

12:51totally new type

12:52of particle out there,

12:53or maybe something

12:54else is going on

12:55that we just

12:56don't understand yet.

12:57They publish the

12:58findings in

12:59physical review

13:00letters, but the

13:01mystery remains

13:02unsolved.

13:03No one really

13:03knows what's going

13:04on under that

13:05Antarctic ice,

13:06just that something

13:07out there isn't

13:08playing by the rules.

13:10Now, if scientists

13:11actually manage

13:12to detect and

13:13trace where those

13:14crazy fast particles

13:15come from,

13:16they can learn

13:17tons of stuff

13:18about the universe,

13:19way more than

13:20even the biggest,

13:21most expensive

13:22telescopes allow

13:23us to see.

13:24You see,

13:25neutrinos basically

13:26zip through space

13:27almost at the

13:28speed of light,

13:29barely bumping

13:30into anything.

13:31It means they

13:32can carry untouched

13:33data about events

13:34that happened

13:35millions or even

13:36billions of

13:37light years away.

13:38That's why

13:39Whistle and a

13:40bunch of other

13:40researchers around

13:41the world have

13:42been building

13:42these insanely

13:43sensitive detectors

13:44to catch neutrino

13:46signals.

13:47Even the tiniest

13:48ones are super

13:49important, because

13:50in this field,

13:51one tiny blip of

13:53data can hold a

13:54treasure chest of

13:55information.

13:56So, researchers

13:58have been designing

13:59setups in both

14:00Antarctica and

14:01South America to

14:02catch these rare

14:03particles.

14:04ANITA is one of

14:05those detectors,

14:07and Antarctica's

14:08the perfect spot

14:09for it.

14:09There's hardly any

14:10radio noise,

14:11there are no

14:12cities, no traffic,

14:13and no random

14:14interference.

14:15The setup is

14:16actually pretty cool.

14:18They attach a

14:19cluster of radio

14:20antennas to a

14:21giant balloon,

14:22send it a few

14:23dozen miles up

14:24into the sky, and

14:25make it float over

14:26the endless

14:27stretches of

14:27white ice.

14:29From up there, it

14:30points downward,

14:31listening for faint

14:32radio signals coming

14:33from deep inside

14:33the ice.

14:35When one of those

14:35super rare neutrinos,

14:37specifically a tau

14:38neutrino, hits the

14:39ice, it creates

14:41another particle called

14:42a tau lepton.

14:43That lepton then

14:44shoots out of the

14:44ice and starts

14:45breaking down, losing

14:46energy and turning

14:47into smaller bits.

14:49That decay process

14:50gives off what's

14:51called an air

14:51shower, kind of

14:53like a spray of

14:54invisible sparks

14:55flying through the

14:56air.

14:57If we could actually

14:58see those air

14:59showers with our

14:59eyes, they'd look

15:00like someone waving

15:01a sparkler through

15:02the dark, bright

15:04streaks trailing

15:05behind as it moves.

15:07Studying the

15:07direction and pattern

15:09of these signals,

15:10the ones from the

15:11ice, ice showers,

15:13and the ones in

15:14the air, air

15:15showers, scientists

15:17can figure out where

15:18the original particle

15:19came from.

15:20Usually it's super

15:21precise, kind of like

15:23bouncing a ball off

15:24the ground.

15:25You can predict

15:26where it'll go.

15:28But these weird new

15:29signals don't bounce

15:30the way they're

15:31supposed to.

15:32The angles are all

15:33wrong way steeper

15:34than anything the

15:35models can explain.

15:37So the team dug

15:38deeper.

15:39First, they looked

15:40at all the data from

15:41ANITA's multiple

15:42balloon flights.

15:44Then they compared

15:44it against tons of

15:45computer simulations

15:46of cosmic rays and

15:48neutrinos and

15:49filtered out all the

15:50usual background noise.

15:51They even cross-checked

15:53their results with

15:53other experiments like

15:55the Ice Cube

15:56detector, which is

15:57also located in

15:58Antarctica, and the

16:00Pierre Auger Observatory

16:01in Argentina.

16:03They wanted to see if

16:04anyone else had picked

16:05up similar upward-going

16:06air showers.

16:08And guess what?

16:09Things got even

16:10weirder.

16:10They found nothing.

16:13No other detectors had

16:14picked up anything that

16:15could explain what

16:16ANITA had seen.

16:16That's why the researchers

16:18ended up calling the

16:19whole situation

16:20anomalous.

16:21It basically means,

16:23yeah, we have no idea

16:24what this is, but it

16:25sure isn't behaving like

16:26a neutrino.

16:28Whistle explained that

16:29the signals just didn't

16:30fit into the usual

16:31picture of how particles

16:32were supposed to act.

16:33Some people have

16:34floated ideas, like maybe

16:36it's some new kind of

16:37physics, or a hint of

16:39dark matter.

16:40Dark matter is basically

16:41that invisible stuff that

16:43keeps the universe from

16:44falling apart.

16:45It's everywhere.

16:46We just can't see it.

16:48Scientists have been

16:49trying to figure out what

16:50it actually is for almost

16:51a century, and it's still

16:53one of the biggest

16:54mysteries out there.

16:56Everything we can see,

16:57like stars, planets,

16:58people, dogs, makes up

17:00only about 5% of the

17:02universe.

17:03And dark matter makes up

17:04around 27%.

17:05The rest is something

17:07even stranger called

17:08dark energy.

17:10Scientists think dark

17:11matter is what gives

17:12galaxies their shape, and

17:14holds everything together

17:15like cosmic glue.

17:18Without it, the universe

17:19would look totally

17:20different.

17:20It would be totally

17:21amazing to find out that

17:23this theory is true.

17:24But since Ice Cube and

17:26Auger haven't caught the

17:26same thing, that really

17:28limits the possibilities.

17:31Penn State has been in

17:32the neutrino detecting game

17:33for almost a decade now,

17:35building detectors and

17:36analyzing all kinds of

17:38cosmic signals.

17:39And the team is already

17:40working on their next big

17:41project, a brand new

17:42detector called Pueo.

17:44It's going to be bigger,

17:45more sensitive, and way

17:46better at spotting those

17:48elusive neutrino signals.

17:50For now, this remains

17:51just one of those long

17:52running cosmic mysteries

17:54that keep scientists

17:55awake at night.

17:56But the team is optimistic.

17:58When Pueo goes up,

18:00it'll have better sensors,

18:01which means if there really

18:03are more of these

18:04anomalies out there, this

18:05time, they'll catch them.

18:07And maybe then, we'll

18:09finally figure out what's

18:10behind them.

18:13That's it for today.

18:14So hey, if you pacified

18:15your curiosity, then give

18:17the video a like and share

18:18it with your friends.

18:19Or if you want more, just

18:20click on these videos and

18:22stay on the bright side.

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