A team of international scientists compiled decades of data to create a map showing the topography of Antarctica with the ice removed.

Antarctica isn’t a floating chunk of ice like the Arctic. Beneath its frozen surface sits a solid continent of mountains, rocky terrain, and gold-spewing volcanoes. This hidden world has now been revealed in stunning detail thanks to a groundbreaking map developed by international scientists led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

For all of human history, Antarctica has been ice-covered and desolate. Now, a new model shows the hidden continent beneath that ice.

Bedmap3 unveils Antarctica’s subglacial landscape, mapping ice depth, terrain, and ocean interactions to advance climate research and sea-level predictions.

Never seen, perhaps, but that doesn't mean forever to remain unknown. For years, the British Antarctic Survey has been flying planes over the frozen southern continent, using radar, sound waves, and gravity mapping to ascertain the shape of the bedrock sequestered below.

The updated map of Antarctica clearly shows the landscape beneath its massive ice sheet, including its tallest mountains and deepest canyons. Notably, data revisions show the thickest ice is found in an unnamed canyon in Wilkes Land, not in the Astrolabe Basin, as previously thought.

A new detailed map of Antarctica is set to significantly improve predictions of how ice flows and melts in response to climate change,  say the scientists behind the project.

Bedmap3 is the most fine-grain map to date of the landscape beneath Antarctica's ice. Scientists created it using more than 60 years' worth of data from satellites, ships and dog-drawn sleds.

Underneath Antarctica’s endless sheets of ice lies a hidden world of deep valleys, towering peaks, and sprawling plains. For decades, scientists have attempted to chart this buried landscape, knowing it holds clues about Earth’s past and critical information about our planet's future.