Physical Geography: Investigating the ‘Lost’ World Beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet by Dr Neil Ross, Newcastle University

A ‘lost’ world of remarkable landscapes and environments is known to exist beneath the vast Antarctic Ice Sheets. From high, rugged mountain ranges, comparable in scale to the European Alps, to the deep valleys and basins of East and West Antarctica, the ‘subglacial’ landscape hidden beneath the vast Antarctic Ice Sheets is now known to far exceed even the wildest imaginations of the earliest explorers of this remarkable continent.

Dr Neil Ross, a Lecturer in Physical Geography at Newcastle University, will discuss the cutting-edge exploration of the Antarctic subglacial environment, describing how, despite a thick cover of ice, we are able to image and map this ‘lost’ world. By revealing this hidden landscape of glaciated mountains, valleys and and lakes beneath the ice, we are able to understand how the Antarctic Ice Sheets have behaved in the past, how they behave now, and how they might change in the future as our global environment changes.

Adding even further to their intrigue, the hidden landscapes beneath the ice sheets are also awash with huge volumes of liquid water. The recognition that lakes and rivers exist beneath the Antarctic ice sheets has led to the opening up of entirely new areas of Antarctic scientific exploration. Recent attempts to explore subglacial lakes have been driven by the realisation that: (i) the hidden subglacial world beneath Antarctica is likely to host a diverse and complex ecosystem of microbial life; and (ii) because these lakes have many similarities to the water bodies that lie beneath the surface of ice-covered moons of Jupiter, Antarctic subglacial lakes may help us to understand whether, and in what form, life may exist elsewhere in the Solar System. Dr Ross will discuss recent attempts to directly explore Antarctic subglacial lakes (e.g. Subglacial Lake Ellsworth) and will describe just what it is actually like to live (as a human, rather than a microbe!) in a tent on the top of the Antarctic ice sheet for several months at a time.

Lecturer Profile: Dr Neil Ross

Suitable for: Year 12/Year 13

Preparation/Pre-reading: There is no pre-reading or preparation required for this session. Students may like to think of questions relevant to studying Geography at university or about university life which they will have the opportunity to ask during the session.