658025 external_news 1652101053 1652101053 Hidden deep below the ice sheet that covers Antarctica, scientists have discovered a massive amount of water. The groundwater system, found in deep sediments in West Antarctica likely to be the consistency of a wet sponge, reveals an unexplored part of the region and may have implications for how the frozen continent reacts to the climate crisis, according to new research. "This finding highlights groundwater hydrology as a potentially critical piece in understanding the effect of water flow on Antarctic ice sheet dynamics," Winnie Chu, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, wrote in a commentary on the research that was published in Science. Chu, who conducts her own research on how climate change impacts Greenland glaciers, was not involved in the Antarctica study.

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