00:03Greenland may be known as an icy tundra in the 21st century, but a new discovery made on the island
00:08nation reveals it may once have been much, much warmer.
00:11Researchers from Columbia University have found a giant underground lake more than a mile beneath the frozen surface of Greenland.
00:18It's the size of Delaware and Rhode Island together, or around 2,700 square miles, and the researchers say it
00:24could be a veritable time capsule of prehistoric life.
00:26Dr. Guy Paxman, lead author on the study, said about the findings,
00:30The basin may be an important site for future sub-ice drilling and the recovery of sediment records that may
00:35yield valuable insights into the glacial, climatological, and environmental history of the region.
00:40They say this is the first time a subglacial feature has ever been discovered, and it could tell us when
00:45exactly Greenland first froze over.
00:46With the researchers adding that as the Greenland ice sheet is melting at an accelerated rate over the last few
00:51decades,
00:52understanding its warmer past could help us understand what's in store with its warming future.
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