A NASA glaciologist has discovered a possible second impact crater buried under more than a mile of ice in northwest Greenland.
A NASA glaciologist has discovered a possible second impact crater buried under more than a mile of ice in northwest Greenland.
This follows the finding, announced in November 2018, of a 19-mile-wide crater beneath Hiawatha Glacier – the first meteorite impact crater ever discovered under Earth’s ice sheets. Though the newly found impact sites in northwest Greenland are only 114 miles apart, at present they do not appear to have formed at the same time.
If the second crater, which has a width of over 22 miles, is ultimately confirmed as the result of a meteorite impact, it will be the 22nd largest impact crater found on Earth.
"We’ve surveyed the Earth in many different ways, from land, air and space – it’s exciting that discoveries like these are still possible," said Joe MacGregor, a glaciologist with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who participated in both findings.
Read more at NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center
Image Credit: NASA
