Media Advisory 6: 2009 Fall Meeting

Joint Release

14–18 December
Moscone Convention Center
San Francisco, California, USA

New Press Conference on Gamburtsev Mountains, Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. PST

The following press conference will be held today, 17 December, at 1600h (PST) at the Press Conference Room (Room 3012 Moscone West).

For instructions on how to call-in, please see: Media Advisory 5

Mapping Antarctica’s Invisible Mountain Range

The first detailed maps of a huge and unseen mountain range a mile beneath the East Antarctica ice sheet—the Gamburtsevs—show previously unknown lakes, a network of streams, and deep valleys with unexpectedly steep walls. The new radar maps taken from the air in 2008–2009 cover twice as much terrain as earlier gravity maps and allow scientists to see the topography at unprecedented resolution. This close-up view will provide insights into the ice sheet’s past and future.

Participants:

Robin Bell
Geophysicist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, New York USA;

Michael Studinger
Geophysicist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, New York, USA;

Fausto Ferraccioli
Geophysicist, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK;

Carol Finn
Geophysicist, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado, USA.

Sessions: G52B