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Researchers believe that a few kilometers under the ice of Antarctica, a source of radioactive heat slowly melts it underneath.
The researchers flew over the ice with the help of a radar to "see" three kilometers under the ice, where the hot material appears to slowly melt the ice.
Researchers believe that the heat source is radioactive rocks and hot water from the Earth's crust.
A heat source hidden beneath the Earth seems to melt Antarctica from below. Source: Getty
Although Antarctica does not disappear overnight, it could have significant impact effects in combination with climate change, according to new measurements from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
Researcher Tom Jordan believes that the observed melting process has probably lasted for thousands, even millions of years, but that it does not directly contribute to the "change of the ice sheet".
"However, in the future, the extra water on the ice cover could make this region more sensitive to external factors such as climate change," he said.
Scientists are studying hot rocks to determine their impact on future ice changes. Source: Getty
"It was a really exciting project, exploring one of the last areas of the planet totally unsupervised.
"Our results were quite unexpected, because many people thought that this region of Antarctica was made of old and cold rocks, which had little impact on the ice cap above," said Mr. Jordan.
"We show that even in the former continental interior, the underlying geology can have a significant impact on the ice."
This revelation comes a few weeks after the discovery, near Antarctica, of a strange, perfectly rectangular iceberg that, according to NASA scientists, is a natural phenomenon.
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