- 10 hours ago
A vast ice hole has opened in Antarctica, covering an area comparable to the size of Switzerland and drawing immediate scientific attention. Such formations are rare and can reveal powerful interactions between the ocean, atmosphere, and ice below. What researchers are uncovering beneath this opening is offering new insight into processes that are usually hidden under the ice.
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00:00Ooh, mysterious mountain ranges hidden under thousands of tons of ice.
00:05Bizarre, transparent creatures with see-through skin, singing snowplanes.
00:10Antarctica has its own terrifying secrets.
00:13And now, a mysterious ice hole the size of Switzerland that keeps popping open.
00:19And scientists have finally figured out why.
00:22This hole, called the Modrise Poligny, was first spotted in 1974 and 1976 in the Weddell Sea.
00:31Since then, it's been kind of playing hard to get.
00:34Sometimes it appears, sometimes it disappears for years.
00:39And when it does show up, it mysteriously changes size.
00:43For decades, researchers were trying to figure out what makes it form.
00:48Then, in 2016 and 2017, the Poligny went absolutely massive, more than 30,000 square miles.
00:56The hole stuck around for several weeks during winters.
01:00It was the first time since the 1970s that the Weddell Sea had such a huge, long-lasting Poligny.
01:07Here's the deal with Antarctic sea ice.
01:10In summer, the ice is at its smallest, around 1 million square miles.
01:15Yeah, that's considered small.
01:17By winter, it spreads to a whopping 7 million square miles, covering about 4% of Earth's surface in weird,
01:26white tiles.
01:27Most of this ice grows during the weeks-long polar night on the floating ice shelves around the continent.
01:33These holes in the ice, called polignyes, usually form when strong winds from inland push the ice tiles apart.
01:41That same cold wind also freezes more seawater inside the hole, adding extra chunks to the ice sheet.
01:49But the Maude-Rise Poligny isn't near the coast, where those winds normally help make holes.
01:55Out in the open ocean, holes like this are rare.
01:59Add in the fact that ice across the southern ocean has been shrinking.
02:03No wonder scientists are left bewildered.
02:07What exact conditions are creating this stubborn giant ice hole?
02:11To crack the mystery, the scientists dove into a mountain of data.
02:15Satellites, floating sensors, even info from tagged marine animals.
02:20Plus, they had years of past observations from other researchers.
02:24And they found something unusual.
02:27In 2016 and 2017, the Waddell Sea's circular ocean current, called the Waddell Gyre, was stronger than usual.
02:36That extra punch made it easier for salty, warmer water from deep below to reach the surface.
02:43The Maude-Rise Poligny sits above an underwater mountain called Maude-Rise.
02:49During those big Poligny years, the stronger current caused salt to gather around this submerged peak.
02:56On the surface, the wind whipped over the ice, creating a corkscrew effect.
03:01It literally pulled that salty water up from below.
03:05The extra salt lowered the freezing point of the surface water, allowing the Maude-Rise Poligny to form and stick
03:12around.
03:13Poligny's are really important for the planet.
03:16The dense, salty water formed in these holes can travel huge distances, spreading across the global ocean and affecting climates
03:24everywhere.
03:25But these magnificent holes aren't the only cool and mysterious phenomena Antarctica is famous for.
03:32How about underground lakes?
03:34Or, shall I say, under ice lakes?
03:37Because there are entire lakes hidden under Antarctica's thick ice.
03:41Scientists first found them back in 1970, using radar.
03:46And now they think there are around 400 lakes, tucked under around 2 miles of ice in the explored areas.
03:53These lakes likely formed after Antarctica broke off from Gondwanda land, the ancient supercontinent.
04:01Surprisingly, the water in the lakes doesn't freeze, because the ice above presses down too hard.
04:07Hey, it's physics, bro!
04:09The biggest of them all is Lake Voshta, discovered in the 1990s.
04:14It sits a bit more than 2 miles below the ice.
04:18Scientists have drilled down to take samples, and the water they pulled up was about 26 degrees Fahrenheit,
04:25even though the lake had been trapped under ice for over 20 million years.
04:30There's also Lake Williams.
04:32In 2014, scientists made a lit discovery there.
04:36They found a thriving colony of microorganisms nearly a mile under the ice.
04:42Those tiny creatures never saw sunlight or fresh air.
04:46Instead, they used methane and ammonium as energy to grow.
04:51Another marvel hides in plain sight in the McMurdo Dry Valley.
04:56It's a waterfall that looks like something straight out of a horror movie.
05:00Bright, crimson water, like blood gushing from a wound in the ice,
05:05pours down 5 stories from Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonny.
05:10Ooh, spooky.
05:11But there's actually a scientific reason behind it.
05:14The water that feeds blood falls used to be part of a salty lake.
05:19Now, it's completely cut off from the atmosphere because glaciers formed on top of it.
05:25Tracked more than 1,300 feet underground, the water has become super salty,
05:30three times saltier than seawater, and it can't freeze.
05:34This underground water is also packed with iron and completely lacks oxygen in sunlight.
05:40When it slowly seeps through a crack in the glacier and hits the open air,
05:44the iron oxidizes, basically rusts, and turns the water that eerie dark red.
05:51With such creepy landscapes, Antarctica might look like a frozen wasteland,
05:56freezing cold, almost no rain, and winds that could knock you off your feet.
06:01The coldest Earth's temperatures ever was recorded there, minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
06:09And still, Antarctica is actually home to some seriously bizarre wildlife.
06:15For the longest time, scientists thought nothing could survive under all that ice.
06:21Turns out, they were very wrong.
06:23There are all sorts of creatures that have adapted to the brutal environment.
06:28Tiny microbes, crustaceans, colossal squid, and spiders so big,
06:33their legs could cover a dinner plate.
06:36Giant worms with shiny golden bristles and huge sharp-toothed jaws also lurk under the ice.
06:43And then, there's the ice fish, a completely see-through fish with huge eyes and organs
06:50you can literally see through its skin.
06:52These fish have built-in antifreeze proteins to survive the freezing waters,
06:57and they can't live anywhere warmer.
07:00Even stranger, they don't have hemoglobin,
07:03the protein that makes our blood red.
07:06In other words, they survive without the stuff that literally keeps most animals alive.
07:11But Antarctica wasn't always the frozen desert we know today.
07:16Millions of years ago, before the Ice Age,
07:19it was actually warm, lush, and full of life,
07:23maybe even home to ancient civilizations.
07:26Hard to imagine, huh?
07:27Scientists figured this out after finding fossilized wood,
07:31tropical tree remains,
07:33tropical tree remains, and leaf impressions,
07:34all pointing to the existence of rainforests.
07:38On top of that, they've uncovered fossils of marine animals,
07:42birds, and dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period.
07:45Even tiny creatures left their mark.
07:48Fossilized beetle wings from 14 to 20 million years ago.
07:52Single-cell fossils.
07:54And, astonishingly, 50 million-year-old sperm cells preserved in the egg case of an extinct worm.
08:02So, now, it probably won't shock you when I tell you that beneath Antarctica's thick ice sheets,
08:08there's a massive hidden mountain range.
08:11The Gambertsi Mountains stretch for 745 miles and rise to almost 10,000 feet,
08:18about the third the height of Mount Everest.
08:20And all this is buried under between 6,500 to 13,100 feet of ice.
08:28The mountains were discovered in 1958.
08:31Scientists noted a thin patch of ice and some weird gravity readings while crossing the continent.
08:37Even though no one has ever seen those mountains directly,
08:40researchers use radar to map their shape and gravitational and magnetic readings
08:46to study them all the way to their base.
08:48Perhaps the craziest part is that the Gambertsis are around a billion years old.
08:54So, in theory, they should have eroded away long ago.
08:58How they're still standing is a mystery.
09:01Most scientists think a frozen mantle beneath the ice
09:04might be protecting them from erosion, keeping this ancient range intact.
09:09And finally, Antarctica has its own soundtrack.
09:13The Ross Ice Shelf, the continent's largest ice shelf,
09:17is several hundred feet thick and spreads over 193,000 square miles,
09:22roughly the size of France.
09:24And scientists have recently discovered that this massive ice slab actually sings.
09:30The eerie melody comes from wind blowing over snow dunes,
09:35which creates vibrations in the ice and a nearly continuous seismic hum.
09:40You can't hear it with your ears, but seismic sensors pick up the mournful tune.
09:45In fact, it was discovered by accident.
09:48Scientists just installed special sensors to monitor other ice behaviors.
09:52Now, even cooler, the song changes depending on what's happening on the ice.
09:58Melting, storms, and shifting snow all tweak the vibrations.
10:03Researchers are now using this haunting melody as a kind of early warning system.
10:08They listen to it in real time to track the ice shelf stability and potential collapse.
10:15Welcome to one of the most mysterious and unexplored places on Earth.
10:20Um, but what's so special about that?
10:23It's just some icy peaks and the endless snowy expanse of Antarctica.
10:28Yeah, that's right.
10:29But there's still a planetary scale mystery here.
10:32No matter how hard you try, you won't see a hidden mountain range,
10:36giant, unexplored land where no human has ever set foot.
10:40And it lies under another layer of mountains.
10:45It's like a nesting doll, but the size of a continent.
10:48These mountains hide Antarctica secrets.
10:51And these secrets can tell us something awesome about the ancient history of our planet.
10:58This gigantic, unexplored territory in Antarctica is called the Gambritsev Subglacial Mountains.
11:04And the layer of ice above keeps this place untouched by nature and people.
11:10It's like a land inside another land, and it hides more than just mountains.
11:15There are valleys, hills, and plains.
11:18The whole area is similar to the European Alps, but unfortunately, we can't enjoy the view.
11:25Those mountains were first discovered in 1958 using seismological instruments.
11:31More than half a century has passed since then.
11:34And this place still remains one of the most poorly studied tectonic objects on Earth.
11:39Why?
11:40Because it's ice.
11:41A lot of ice.
11:44Who knows?
11:45Maybe there are some unknown ancient artifacts lying there.
11:48What if they're hiding a secret city or spaceships?
11:52It's unlikely, of course, but it would still be interesting to look there.
11:55Think about it.
11:57Hundreds or even thousands of miles of land that have remained unchanged for hundreds of millions of years.
12:04Even if no new species of animals or remains of an ancient civilization are there, this place still has a
12:11history.
12:12The history of the formation of continents on our planet.
12:16And scientists have already figured out some of this story.
12:22The mountains buried in Antarctica were originally like ordinary mountains.
12:26But as a result of a planetary scale event, they just...
12:29Wait a minute.
12:30Have you ever wondered how mountain ranges are formed?
12:34We see them in real life.
12:35In movies.
12:36In photos on the internet.
12:38We climb them.
12:39But how did they appear?
12:41Mountains have not always existed on the planet in this form.
12:44They appeared as a result of a large-scale collision of tectonic plates.
12:49Two giant solid chunks of ground are moving toward each other, then crash, and boom!
12:56Millions of tons of the Earth's crust pile on top of each other, mix, and form ledges and gorges.
13:03And all this can last for millions of years.
13:07Yes, it's a disaster, but it's very slow.
13:11Some tectonic plates are still colliding.
13:13For example, the Himalayas continue to grow because the Indian and Eurasian plates are still ramming into each other.
13:21And this process began about 50 million years ago.
13:25The Gambertsev Mountains under ice experienced a similar event, only much earlier.
13:30An article in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters says that they appeared during the formation of the supercontinent
13:38Gondwana.
13:40Two giant pieces of land were separated by a boundless ocean.
13:44But then, about 700 million years ago, they collided and formed Gondwana.
13:50This supercontinent included the territories of modern Africa, South America, Australia, India, and Antarctica.
13:59The giant pieces crashed into each other and released a stream of hot, partially molten rock.
14:05This mess grew bigger and bigger, forming mountains.
14:08The temperature of those mountains grew, their mass increased, and at some point, Gondwana became unstable.
14:15The supercontinent began to collapse under its own weight.
14:20The hot rocks below the surface began to flow sideways as a result of a process called gravitational spreading.
14:27Take toothpaste and start squeezing it out of the tube.
14:31Approximately the same thing happened with billions of tons of red hot rock.
14:36Ancient mountains in Antarctica appeared right during this catastrophic event.
14:41You've just watched a visual simulation of global events that took place hundreds of millions of years ago.
14:48It looks cool, but how did scientists figure it out?
14:51How did they see this planetary scale destruction?
14:56If the Gambertsev Mountains Under Ice is one of the most unexplored places in the world,
15:00then how could people find out its origin?
15:03The answer is simple.
15:06Tiny particles of rock have told us about the changing landscape of the planet.
15:11These are zircons, but scientists also call them time capsules.
15:16This mineral is very handy and resistant to mechanical and chemical influences.
15:21It's difficult to crush, it doesn't get affected by erosion, and it doesn't dissolve in water.
15:27And there's uranium inside it.
15:30This chemical element shows scientists the age of the rock.
15:34The fact is that uranium always decays into lead at the same rate.
15:39Scientists look at the ratio of uranium and lead and determine the age of minerals with great accuracy.
15:46Okay, this sounds a bit complicated.
15:49Here's a simple example.
15:51Imagine that each mountain belt is a clock that starts ticking at the moment of its formation.
15:56That is, after the collision of tectonic plates.
16:00After the rock forms, uranium begins its slow decay.
16:04The more time passes, the more uranium turns into lead.
16:08The rate of this decay is always the same.
16:11This decay can last for billions of years.
16:14The less uranium is in zircons and the more lead, the older the rock is.
16:19And this is how it happens in practice.
16:23Geologists take several rock samples.
16:26In a lab, they crush it to extract crystalline zircons.
16:30Geologists then dissolve the particles in acid to separate uranium from lead.
16:35Then, they use a special device.
16:37A mass spectrometer that accelerates atoms and sorts them by mass.
16:42This is a rather complicated process, but the bottom line is that this device shows scientists the amount of uranium
16:49and lead.
16:50They look at the ratios of these two elements and calculate the age of the rock.
16:57Geologists took zircons from sandstones near the Gambertsev Mountains, studied those particles,
17:02looked at the level of uranium, and calculated the chronology of mountain formation.
17:07Then, they compared the data obtained with the history of our planet and realized that the mountains buried in Antarctica
17:14appeared during the formation of the supercontinent Gondwana.
17:18But how did they find out that the supercontinent included Australia, India, and Africa?
17:24Zirconia from those Antarctic rocks turned out to be very similar to zirconium from those countries.
17:30That is, a long time ago, these three continents were together.
17:35So, the Gambertsev Mountains began to grow about 650 million years ago.
17:41About 580 million years ago, they reached the height of the Himalayas.
17:45And 80 million years later, they experienced the melting of the Earth's crust.
17:51And while most of the mountain ranges on the planet were changing and collapsing,
17:55the Gambertsev Mountains under ice remained untouched.
18:00Water, soil, wind, earthquakes, gravity, and other natural forces destroy mountain belts.
18:07This process is called erosion.
18:09But mountains buried in Antarctica haven't experienced anything like this.
18:14The cold temperature and the ice sheet around them kept this range unchanged.
18:18It's one of the best-preserved ancient mountain belts on the planet.
18:22Okay, but why do we need to explore these mountains?
18:25What difference does it make that the supercontinent Gondwana collapsed in the past?
18:30It's possible that plants, frozen bodies of insects, or ancient bacteria have remained preserved under thick layers of ice.
18:38What about ancient animals?
18:40Many species could have lived on Gondwana.
18:44Studying ancient mountains in Antarctica can show us what the planet looked like about a half a billion years ago.
18:50When Antarctica was a green continent, what lived on it?
18:53What happened to this life?
18:55Is it possible to revive those ancient creatures after so many years?
19:00If scientists were able to calculate the date of the supercontinent's appearance using tiny particles,
19:06then imagine what they could find after examining this hidden mountain range.
19:10It all sounds very interesting.
19:13But there's one problem.
19:15To take a small piece of this unknown world, you need to drill through a lot of ice.
19:20You need to deliver heavy equipment to one of the most inaccessible continents in the world,
19:25build stations, obtain an energy source, and conduct large-scale research.
19:30It sounds incredibly expensive, so this hidden territory will probably remain a mystery for a long time.
19:38Let's just hope that some billionaire will want to find out Antarctica's secrets and arrange a large-scale expedition there.
19:46Ice piracy is like Pirates of the Caribbean, but you gotta swap those tropical seas for icy, freezing waters.
19:54And the captain here isn't Jack Sparrow, but a massive glacier in Antarctica.
19:59Meet the Kohler East Glacier.
20:01Its calm, sparkling surface might look innocent, but don't be mistaken, it is a pirate, and a pretty skilled one
20:09too.
20:09Instead of gold, it's been stealing ice from its neighbors at record speed, and scientists can't believe what they're seeing.
20:16So, what exactly is ice piracy?
20:20This is a strange kind of glacier movement, where one glacier starts taking ice from another nearby.
20:27Instead of minding its own business and slowly sliding toward the sea,
20:31it suddenly changes course and begins pulling ice that used to belong to its neighbor.
20:36The pirate glacier speeds up, the victim slows down.
20:41The problem is that the balance of ice in the region might get completely thrown off.
20:46This isn't brand-new information, though.
20:48Scientists have known about this quirky behavior for quite a while.
20:52But they used to think that this process took hundreds, maybe even thousands of years.
20:57Now, something really strange is happening in Antarctica.
21:01We're seeing, for the first time ever, a glacier pirate in action.
21:05And it's moving much, much faster than anyone expected.
21:09It all started when researchers from the University of Leeds began looking at satellite images taken between 2005 and 2022.
21:18They wanted to analyze the rates of flow from eight ice streams in West Antarctica.
21:24And yes, glaciers do move.
21:26Think of them as huge piles of snow that have turned into solid ice over time.
21:31This ice slowly changes shape, shifts, and moves.
21:35That's why glaciers are often called rivers of ice, because they flow, for real.
21:40Gravity is what makes it happen.
21:42The ice slowly slides and deforms under its own weight, thanks to the pull of gravity.
21:48And when it comes to glacial movements, they can either advance or retreat.
21:52If more snow and ice build up than melt away, break off, or evaporate, a glacier will advance.
21:59But if it loses more than it gains, it will retreat.
22:03Oh, and glaciers also move at different speeds, depending on things like the slope of the land beneath them.
22:09But if that flow starts speeding up, well, that's bad news for coastal communities all over the world.
22:15Because that means more ice is moving from land into the ocean, which contributes to Antarctic ice loss and, eventually,
22:23sea level rise.
22:24Now, back to the recent ice research in Antarctica.
22:28The team calculated ice velocity using a tracking technique that measures how visible features, like cracks or rifts on the
22:35ice surface, shift over time.
22:37And they found that seven of those eight Antarctic glaciers had sped up.
22:42On average, they've doubled their speed since 2005.
22:46Given the impacts of how Antarctica's climate is changing, warming up more and more each year, this doesn't really come
22:53as a surprise.
22:54But here's something strange.
22:56One glacier, just one, slowed down.
23:00We're talking about the Kohler West Glacier.
23:02It slowed by about 10% over the study period.
23:06But how can a massive chunk of ice just hit the brakes, so to speak?
23:10To figure that out, researchers looked at its surroundings.
23:13And there it was.
23:15The culprit.
23:16The Kohler East Glacier.
23:18Experts think Kohler West slowed down because it's flowing toward its pirate neighbor, Captain Whitebeard.
23:25I mean, Kohler East.
23:26That one's moving much faster.
23:28In fact, it's one of the fastest glaciers in the area.
23:32Its speed has been increasing by about 105 feet every year over the study period.
23:37Okay, that might sound slow, even for a tortoise.
23:40But for a glacier, that's disturbingly fast.
23:44Kohler East is the Usain Bolt of ice chunks, and that's not even the most impressive part.
23:49The strange thing is that it changed its flow direction.
23:53Instead of moving straight ahead like it used to, it's now turning towards its neighbor, Kohler West, and pulling ice
24:00from it.
24:01Scientists think this is happening because the ice at the point where the glacier meets the ocean is melting faster
24:07than before.
24:08That glacier melting makes the ice thinner, and as it thins, it changes the way the ice upstream flows.
24:15So now, instead of feeding both glaciers evenly, more of that ice is being funneled onto Kohler East.
24:21In short, Kohler East is speeding up and changing its course.
24:25So now, it's pulling or stealing ice from its slower neighbor.
24:29And just like that, this mysterious glacier in Antarctica became a real ice pirate.
24:35Okay, this whole ice piracy thing isn't that weird.
24:39I mean, it's part of how glaciers normally behave.
24:42Slow, dramatic, and occasionally a little mischievous.
24:46What really blows scientists' minds is how fast it's happening.
24:50They used to think this was a super slow process, something that would take hundreds or even thousands of years.
24:56But this one is taking place in just 18 years.
25:00And this is a huge satellite discovery in Antarctica.
25:04I mean, scientists were only able to spot it thanks to the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission,
25:09a pair of European satellites that use radar to keep an eye on Earth's surface.
25:14They can track changes in ice, land, and ocean with incredible precision and coverage,
25:19making them perfect for studying how the polar regions are changing.
25:23Because here's the thing.
25:25Keeping an eye on the coldest parts of our planet is becoming essential for our future.
25:30And this particular part of Antarctica, where both the Kohler West and East glaciers are located,
25:35is thinning faster than anywhere else.
25:38Its glaciers are retreating at record speed.
25:41The grounding line – I mean, the point where the glacier stops resting on land and starts floating on the
25:47sea – is moving backward.
25:49When that happens, the ice sheet slides into the ocean even faster.
25:53But scientists say glaciers aren't just melting.
25:56They're reshaping themselves in completely new ways.
25:59And that's exactly what's happening with the Kohler East glaciers.
26:03Seeing a pirate glacier in action firsthand has once again changed how scientists look at things.
26:09The new data on ice piracy shows something they've never seen before.
26:14Glaciers and floating ice shelves are interacting in new and surprising ways.
26:19So, more and more, experts need to rethink how these icy giants behave as the world warms up.
26:26And that's a big deal, because they play a significant role in how fast sea levels rise this century.
26:32In fact, Antarctica's glaciers are one of the biggest reasons our oceans are swelling.
26:37The continent is losing about 135 billion tons of ice every year.
26:43That's like dumping tens of millions of Olympic-sized pools of water into the ocean annually.
26:48If all of its ice melted, sea levels would rise by about 190 feet.
26:54That kind of rise would flood much of Florida and huge areas of the Netherlands and Bangladesh, for example.
27:00Many small island nations would completely vanish beneath the waves.
27:04Now, you might be asking yourself, what's hiding beneath all of Antarctica's ice?
27:09Well, it might look flat from above.
27:12But underneath that mile-thick layer of ice plays a whole landscape of steep mountains and deep valleys, crossed by
27:19winding rivers.
27:20Those hidden rivers could play a crucial role in how the ice sheet reacts to all this unusual warmth.
27:26Scientists now predict that as Antarctica's ice sheet keeps melting and thinning over the next few decades,
27:33those subglacial rivers will grow, overflow, and shift into new paths.
27:38This could make some of the biggest glaciers near the coast start to break apart faster.
27:43And that would make sea levels rise more quickly.
27:46So that's why understanding these changing dynamics and glacier movement, like our icy pirate, is so important.
27:54Every new discovery helps scientists figure out what's really driving Antarctica's glaciers
27:59and how they are responding to a warming world.
28:02The more we learn about these frozen giants, the better we can predict what might happen next
28:07and how changes down in Antarctica could ripple across the entire planet.
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