Strange radio waves detected beneath Antarctica’s ice, scientists still searching for the source |

A group of researchers working in Antarctica has detected uncommon radio alerts rising from deep beneath the ice. These waves had been picked up throughout an experiment utilizing the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), a NASA-funded venture that searches for high-energy particles from house. The discovery was surprising as the alerts seemed to be coming from under the floor fairly than from house. Scientists say the waves are unlikely to be attributable to identified particles like neutrinos and have but to find out precisely what’s producing them.

Radio waves discovered throughout neutrino search in Antarctica

The ANITA experiment was designed to check high-energy neutrinos utilizing a balloon that carried radio devices into the stratosphere. Antarctica was chosen as the web site attributable to its isolation and low interference from different radio sources. While searching for neutrinos researchers got here throughout alerts coming from round 30 levels under the ice floor. These alerts had been surprising as a result of they might have needed to move by hundreds of kilometres of rock which ought to have absorbed them utterly.

Neutrinos dominated out as the trigger

Stephanie Wissel, an astrophysicist at Penn State University and a part of the ANITA group, defined that the alerts weren’t according to neutrinos. Neutrinos are extremely tough to detect and infrequently work together with matter. Although they will journey nice distances by strong rock the angles and nature of the alerts didn’t match what scientists count on from neutrino interactions. The group additionally cross-checked their findings with information from two different experiments and located no matches confirming that these weren’t neutrino occasions.

Theories and unanswered questions round the thriller

Since neutrinos had been dominated out scientists at the moment are contemplating different explanations. Some have proposed the alerts might be associated to darkish matter or unknown radio wave behaviour round the ice and the horizon. However none of those theories have been confirmed. Wissel mentioned that whereas they’ve explored a number of concepts none absolutely clarify what was detected. She added that extra experiments and information can be wanted to grasp what is going on below the Antarctic ice.

Search continues for the mysterious source

The devices utilized in the experiment had been lifted about 40 kilometres into the sky to seize faint radio emissions. While this strategy permits for a broad view of alerts coming into Earth from house it additionally reveals surprising exercise from under. As scientists proceed to overview the information and put together for future missions they hope to uncover extra about the nature of those unusual alerts. For now the source of the radio waves stays a thriller.