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Opening The Floodgates Of Discovery

Glaciologists around the world are using Fricker's technique to uncover hundreds more lakes under the Antarctic ice sheet. And now this subglacial plumbing system has added a new piece to the already complex sea-level rise equation.

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ICESat continues to collect data and now Fricker has more questions that she hopes the satellite data will help answer. With many new subglacial floods to study, she and her research team will continue to analyze the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet to better understand the movement of water through this vast lake system.

As of November 2006, one in particular, Lake Conway, had been draining continuously for 15 months. Fricker believes that as these lake waters flow together they accumulate in a drainage system downstream. The team is also applying Fricker's track-by-track method to other areas of the Antarctica continent and Greenland to find more subglacial lake systems. Her research provides a crucial component that will help scientists improve ice sheet models that will forecast changes in sea-level rise over the next century.

"Knowing where these lakes are, how these lakes exchange water, and how much water is involved will be important to the models," said Fricker.

But these lakes are more than just new scientific avenues to measure global sea-level rise. A pristine ecosystem untouched by humans offers new opportunities for the discovery of unique life forms that may live in these lakes. This could lead to discoveries that may help us understand the origins and future of life on our planet, Fricker adds.

Next page: Subterranean Cracks


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