Massive 460 Mile Long Canyon Discovered Beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet
Posted on August 29, 2013
A previously unknown massive canyon has been discovered beneath the Greenland ice sheet. The discovery was led by a team from the University of Bristol. The huge canyon is at least 750 kilometers (460 miles) long. In places the canyon is as much as 800 meters (2,600 feet) deep. It is on the same scale as parts of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA.
Jonathan Bamber, professor of physical geography at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, and lead author of the study, said in a statement, "One might assume that the landscape of the Earth has been fully explored and mapped. Our research shows there's still a lot left to discover."
The scientists used thousands of miles of airborne radar data, collected by NASA and researchers from the United Kingdom and Germany over several decades, to piece together the landscape lying beneath the Greenland ice sheet. A large portion of this data was collected from 2009 through 2012 by NASA's Operation IceBridge.
The mega canyon is thought to predate the Greenland ice sheet which has covered Greenland for the past few million years. Take a look:
The research was published here in the journal, Science.
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