Massive ice channels have been found floating beneath ice-shelves in Antarctica, with some as tall as the Eiffel tower and stretching hundreds of miles along the shelf.
Scientists say that the ice channels play an important role in stabilizing the ice-shelf and so can help understand how Antarctica will respond to climate change in the future.
The latest study was conducted by researchers at the University of Exeter and colleagues including those from Newcastle University and the University of Bristol.
The experts used satellite images and airborne radar measurements to find meltwater channels in Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in West Antarctica, according to Livescience. The team said that the channels are visible both from top and underneath the ice-shelf.
One of the newly discovered ice-channels was about 820 feet high, as tall as the Eiffel tower and nearly 985 feet wide.
Ice sheets or a continental glacier is a spread of ice that is in contact with land. In the present study, researchers could even predict the flow of water beneath these ice sheets.
Previously, it was believed that the water beneath the ice-sheet moves in a thin sheet-like form. However, researchers in the current study found that the system actually resembles a river-like system, with water flowing in a more focused manner.
Earlier research had found massive ice-channels beneath ice-shelves, but it was assumed that these channels are due to oceanic processes.
"If we are to understand the behaviour of the ice sheet, and its contribution to changes in sea level, we need to fully understand the role of water at the base of the ice sheet. The information gained from these newly discovered channels will enable us to understand more fully how the water system works and how the ice sheet will behave in the future," Dr Anne Le Brocq from the University of Exeter said in a news release.
The study is published in the journal Nature Geoscience.