A climate threat may lurk beneath Antarctica's last great unknown
A new scientific review calls for an urgent, coordinated campaign to study Antarctica's Wilkes Subglacial Basin. Researchers warn that the region is poorly understood despite containing enough ice to significantly raise global sea levels.
Why it matters
Understanding this basin is critical for accurate global sea-level rise projections and climate change mitigation strategies.
edited by Sadie Harley , reviewed by Robert Egan
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Add as preferred source Location of Wilkes Subglacial Basin, which is both one of Australia's closest Antarctic neighbours and one of its least understood. Credit: Agnieszka Gautier | National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) A region of Antarctica with some of the greatest potential to reshape the natural world and human society is also the least scientifically understood and explored.
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