Antarctic ice sheet on brink of change

A project to map part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has shown that the region may be on the threshold of change. Scientists from the University have mapped the ice-covered, largely unexplored landscape from the air. They uncovered a deep sub-glacial basin close to the edge of the ice sheet near the Weddell sea. The basin measures 100 by 200 km - about the size of Wales - and is well below sea level, nearly 2km deep in places. The ice sheet, currently grounded above the deep basin, may be more unstable than previously thought and could quickly undergo ice loss. Hidden landscape. Researchers surveyed the thickness of two ice streams to determine the underlying landscape.