Saturday, April 7, 2012

Antarctica Quake Waves Hoped To Unravel Antarctic Secrets

Antarctica quake waves are being studied by a team of researchers in the hopes of figuring out what's going on underneath the colossal Antarctic ice sheets.

According to a Live Science report, the researchers installed a network of seismographs -instruments used in measuring quake waves - to map out rock qualities beneath the bottom of the ice sheets, something that has never been done before. They are hoping that through the seismograph data, they will be able to find out the effect Earth has on the ice sheets.

"Seismograph data can help reveal how mushy the rocks are, and how heat is distributed throughout them — a big deal for understanding the network of mechanisms that govern changes in the ice sheet." Live Science wrote.

Live Science added that the seismographs can also identify sources of seismic activity which could reveal if there are hidden volcanoes under the ice.

The installation of the seismograph network is part of a project called Polenet that is focused on collecting GPS and seismic data from autonomous systems deployed at remote sites spanning much of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets.

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