World’s largest canyon spotted by Chinese scientists

The world’s largest canyon far larger than the Grand Canyon in the United States (in the picture) has been spotted by Chinese scientists who took part in the country’s latest Antarctic expedition to the South Pole.

Key points about the canyon

• The canyon, more than 1000 kilometers  long, 1500 meters deep, and 26.5 kilometers wide at the top,
• The largest canyon discovered on earth, state-run Xinhua quoted Chinese scientists who took part in China’s 32nd Antarctic expedition as saying.
• China’s expedition team, launched the search around the Princess Elizabeth Area of the South Pole in last November, has also found many sub-glacial lakes and currents connected to the canyon, forming a giant “wetland” beneath the Antarctic ice.
• They also detected large-scale “warm ice” under the sheet along with a number of lakes. Warm ice can easily be melted into water.

Benefits of Canyon in research area

• The Chinese scientists led the survey and made the findings,” Sun Bo, vice-leader of the expedition team said. He said the achievements would help significantly with research in the area.
• In recent years, science circles speculated through satellite remote sensing measures that there should be a giant canyon or lake covered by ice in the Princess Elizabeth Area.
• The Chinese expedition team had surveyed an area of 8, 66,000 km with the aid of China’s first fixed-wing aircraft, carrying an ice radar, high-precision differential GPS system.
• China launched its 32nd Antarctic expedition with the research vessel and icebreaker Xuelong (Snow Dragon) on November 7.