The Perfect Analogy

To better imagine how Antarctica’s unseen side actually affects the glaciers that dominate it above, let’s turn to a rather perfect analogy from Alfred Wegener Institute researcher Emma Smith. She compared the ice movement in the continent with a thick syrup when poured onto a surface.

Smith, who has a doctorate degree in glaciology and geophysics, explained that the liquid would spread in different ways depending on whether the surface is flat or full of lumps and bumps. The same can be said about how Antarctic ice interacts with the White continent’s surface.