Antarctica is like a giant frozen mystery, hiding incredible secrets under all that ice! 🧊 Scientists have discovered massive lakes and rivers flowing beneath the ice sheet, which is mind-blowing because you’d think it’s too cold for liquid water. They’ve also found fossils of ancient plants and animals, proving that Antarctica was once warm and lush, like a prehistoric jungle. Even more surprising are the hidden mountain ranges, as big as the Alps, buried deep under the ice. 🏔️ Then there’s the spooky part—traces of ancient bacteria and microbes frozen for millions of years, still alive and waiting to be studied. Who knows what else is down there? Antarctica is a frozen treasure chest of surprises, and scientists are just starting to crack it open. 🌎 Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0: Carnegie Museum: By Andre Carrotflower, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85985633 Eulagisca uschakovi: By Sus barbatus, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92291767 Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/ Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Telegram: https://t.me/bright_side_official Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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00:00Look at those lush coniferous forests and tundra. What a wonderland!
00:04You may have mistakenly thought it's Canada, but it's not.
00:08It's Antarctica, about 34 million years ago.
00:12So what makes Antarctica this frigid today?
00:16It turns out a mix of dropping carbon dioxide levels and some tectonic shuffle
00:20played a huge role in transforming this ice-free paradise
00:24into the frozen continent we know now.
00:28About 50 million years ago, CO2 concentrations were sky-high,
00:32strutting around at around 1,000 to 2,000 parts per million.
00:36But as those levels tumbled down, global temps started to drop,
00:40paving the way for the mighty ice sheets that later took over Antarctica.
00:44While the CO2 dive was happening, tectonic activity
00:48was also working its magic. The big split between South America
00:52and Antarctica opened up the Drake Passage, which created the
00:56Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This powerful current acted
01:00like a bouncer, keeping warm air and ocean currents from crashing the
01:04Antarctic party, and helping keep things rather frosty.
01:08If you mix up Australia and Antarctica, you're not that wrong.
01:12These two continents used to be one.
01:16If you mix up Austria and Australia, it's much worse.
01:20By the way, don't fall for the internet myths and memes. There's no help desk in Austria
01:24specifically for people who intended to fly to Australia.
01:28Now, look at this magnificent Australian pink beach.
01:32It's precious, and not in a figurative sense.
01:36Those mysterious pinkish sands are actually garnet, and it's widely used in jewelry.
01:40Geologists studied those sands and came to the conclusion
01:44that the garnet contained there is older than local mountains.
01:48That doesn't make sense, right? In fact, it does.
01:52You see, Australia didn't used to be this very detached continent
01:56as it is now. Many, many millions of years ago,
02:00Australia and Antarctica were part of the supercontinent Gondwana,
02:04and glacial erosion released the garnet, which eventually made its way
02:08to the beach. These sands formed when South Australia was flat
02:12and chill, long before the mountains appeared.
02:16Most garnet gets washed away, but this batch has a rich history,
02:20dating back to glacial rocks in the transantarctic mountains.
02:24So, this pink sand comes from an ancient mountain range
02:28hidden under Antarctic ice.
02:32Not only does Antarctica ice hide gems like garnet,
02:36if you look harder, you might find entire buildings.
02:40Sounds insane, but this is exactly what a British explorer did.
02:44His name is Chris Brown, and he uncovered an entire building
02:48of ice. He was traveling to the Pole of Inaccessibility,
02:52and it all started with a bummer. Chris and his son
02:56had their plane broken. Suddenly, they spotted a lone bust
03:00peeking out of the snow. This place was an old meteorological station.
03:04Despite freezing conditions, Chris and his son
03:08Micah had a blast exploring. Chris is on a mission to conquer
03:12all seven earthbound poles of inaccessibility, and has tackled
03:16five so far. I guess you already know
03:20that Antarctica is the largest desert on earth, much larger than the Sahara
03:24or the Gobi. Still, despite being the driest continent
03:28on earth, it boasts a seriously weird waterfall.
03:32Nestled in the mesmerizing McMurdo Dry Valleys, it's five stories
03:36tall, and looks like it's gushing blood. It's even called
03:40Blood Falls. It may look outlandish and even frightening,
03:44but its nature can be easily explained. The water that creates
03:48this crimson cascade was once a salty lake, but over time
03:52it became sealed off from the outside world when glaciers formed on top of it.
03:56Now, this ancient water, hanging out 1,300
04:00feet below the surface, has cranked up its salt levels to three times
04:04saltier than the ocean. This salt water is also loaded with
04:08iron and gets zero oxygen, or sunlight. When the
04:12iron-rich water trickles through a crack in the glacier and meets the air,
04:16it rusts up, turning dark red.
04:20You may have mistakenly heard that no bug species belongs to Antarctica,
04:24but it's not exactly true, because there's this tiny Antarctic
04:28midge living there. Plus, there are some spiders too.
04:32Those aren't your average spiders hanging out in the darkest corners
04:36of your apartment. Those are critters lurking in the chilly
04:40darkness of the Antarctic ocean floor. These little marine creepers
04:44are actually anthropods and can stretch around 20 inches across.
04:48As if that wasn't bizarre enough, they also breathe through little holes
04:52in their legs. Quick question. What's the
04:56color that you associate most with Antarctica? I'm sure it's
05:00white. That's my association too. However,
05:04Antarctica may look like a slice of watermelon. That colorful snow
05:08comes courtesy of a tough little algae called Chlamydomonas
05:12nivalis. When things start to warm up during the Antarctic summer,
05:16these little guys release their vibrant red and green spores, painting the snow
05:20in wild and funky colors. But it's best to steer clear, because
05:24that snow is not just a pretty sight. It's also toxic
05:28and definitely not edible.
05:32Searching for fossils is always a blast, but when you're in one of the most remote
05:36spots on the planet, it gets even more exciting. A diverse
05:40team of scientists recently hit the motherlode, pulling in over a ton
05:44of fossils from ancient marine life, dinosaurs, and birds
05:48from the Late Cretaceous period, about 71 million years ago.
05:52Their adventure kicked off with a flight to South America,
05:56followed by a five-day trek through the infamous Drake Passage.
06:00Upon reaching Antarctica, they set up camp using helicopters
06:04and inflatable boats. You might be thinking,
06:08why dig in Antarctica with all that ice? Well, it turns out
06:12there are places where rocks pop up, depending on the season.
06:16The team went to James Ross Island, located in the Antarctic Peninsula,
06:20and they went there during February and March. And that's one of the few
06:24parts of Antarctica where in summer, rocks are exposed,
06:28and those rocks can come from the age of dinosaurs.
06:32The expedition was a success, as they discovered
06:36over a ton of remarkable finds. Next up, the fossils
06:40will head to Chile before making their way to Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum
06:44of Natural History. Among their discoveries, they found
06:48relics dating back about 71 million years, alongside
06:52some around 67 million years old, including plenty
06:56of snails, clams, and various marine creatures.
07:00Yikes! Look at this creepy sea worm.
07:04It could live in LA and be a star in a horror movie, but it chooses
07:08to call the chilly waters of the southern ocean near Antarctica its home.
07:12These worms can grow up to 8 inches long
07:16and 4 inches wide, but don't let their spooky exterior trick you.
07:20Research suggests they might actually be superheroes
07:24in disguise, playing a vital role in keeping ecosystems
07:28buzzing. Now, see that head?
07:32It's not really a head. It's just a retractable throat that helps this
07:36toothy creature chow down on its meals.
07:40Antarctica has many creepy critters to offer. Let me introduce you
07:44to the Antarctic strawberry feather star. It's not like Patrick from
07:48SpongeBob, though. It's more like a deep-sea creature straight out of a horror
07:52movie. Picture this. 20 wiggly arms,
07:56some stretching up to 8 inches, all decked out with these bizarre
08:00little bumps. Yikes, indeed!
08:04Back in 2014, scientists buried 34 seismic monitors
08:08in the snow on the Ross Ice Shelf, which is huge.
08:12Think of it as an ice lab the size of Texas, just chillin' over the southern ocean.
08:16These clever little machines picked up a nearly non-stop
08:20buzzing. Even though our human ears usually can't catch these
08:24frequency sounds, scientists have worked their magic and made them audible
08:28for us. They even shared the creepy audio online.
08:32A glaciologist from the University of Chicago
08:36says that if you could hear this vibration, it'd sound like a swarm of cicadas
08:40taking over the backyard in late summer. But these glacier
08:44explorers weren't trying to capture spooky tunes. They're actually
08:48on a mission to monitor the Ross Ice Shelf because things are heating up.
08:52Literally. And the ice is melting faster than ice cream on a hot day.
08:56Ice shelves are like Earth safety plugs, keeping all that
09:00massive ice from surging into the ocean. So what exactly
09:04is making all that noise? It's likely just strong winds
09:08whipping across ice dunes, creating a kind of natural vibration.
09:12That's it for today!
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