Antarctica holds special interest for me due to its uniqueness, but also as a climate change early warning system. Now, new research has, for the first time, revealed an extensive network of freshwater lakes and channels beneath the ice.

Antarctic lakes beneath the ice could be accelerating ice loss due to climate change.

Antarctic lakes beneath the ice could be accelerating ice loss due to climate change.

While previous research has found scattered lakes, this is the first study of the whole continent to reveal how networked the lakes tend to be – some of them are connected by channels hundreds of kilometres long.

The original story in New Scientist says that scientists observed some lakes emptying and filling, and it appeared from the satellite imagery that water flowed between lakes.

It is also possible that some of the lakes created lubrication for accelerated ice flow, much the same as happens in Greenland.

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