Researchers have generated the first dataset of water flow beneath the entire Antarctic Ice Sheet, which will lead to more accurate projections of sea level rise. 

The team from the University of Waterloo modeled Antarctica’s subglacial environment. The dataset represents the researchers’ best approximation of what the water flow underneath the ice sheet might currently look like. The results include numerous subglacial lakes developing below ice streams in both East and West Antarctica, and an extensive network of subglacial water channels that discharge large fluxes of water under many major glaciers.