New maps of the landscape beneath a major West Antarctic glacier will help forecast the rise of global sea levels, researchers say.
Radar surveys of the land beneath Pine Island Glacier, obtained by snowmobile, have revealed a diverse, mountainous landscape under the ice.
Scientists say findings are significant as the glacier is the fastest melting in Antarctica and currently accounts for up to 10 per cent of global sea level rise.
Ice melting into the ocean is expected to increase as the climate warms and the West Antarctic ice sheet continues to thin.
Dr Robert Bingham, of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, who led the research, said: "Detailed understanding of this diverse landscape, and how that will impact on ice melt from Antarctica's fastest disappearing important glacier, will give us valuable clues as to how warming in this region will impact on global sea level."
The survey of the glacier, the most detailed to date, was carried out during the Antarctic summer of 2013-2014.
Snow vehicles equipped with radar sensors surveyed about 1500 sq km of ice, taking readings every few hundred metres.
The study, published in Nature Communications, was led by the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey, the Universities of Swansea, Exeter and Aberdeen, and colleagues in the US and New Zealand.
The findings, researchers say, represent "significant progress" in the data available to inform forecasts of ice loss.
The study shows the diverse nature of the terrain beneath the glacier is the biggest factor affecting the flow of the ice across the landscape.
Scientists will incorporate the new findings into computer models used to project the glacier's future.
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