Behold: the best place on Earth to search for meteorites

At first glimpse , the image up top resembles a vast , gleaming oceanscape with a snow - capped island hover in the distance . But if you look close ( flick here for a much better view ) , you ’ll see that the rippling surface in the foreground is not liquid water , but ice ; and that the three black chassis are actually riding snowmobile .

The trio of riders is enjoying an Antarctic summer on top of an water ice field about 25 kilometers in front of Otway Massif , the mountain — not island — you see off in the distance . So what are these three fearless water ice - trekkers doing all the way at the bottom of the Earth ? Hunting for meteorites , naturally .

Pat Dasch , former Executive Director of the Washington , DC - found National Space Society , explain :

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Antarctica is the best post in the worldly concern to find meteorites , and the search for Antarctic meteorite begins with the search for down deoxyephedrine . This is an excellent meteorite hunt ground , not because more meteorite fall in Antarctica , but because meteorites are preserved and gentle to find . meteorite fall all over the globe . Those that fall into the ocean are lost . Those that fall on res publica can be severe to see , one sorry rock among other rocks or under leafage in a timberland , and are lost quickly too , bury in soil and weathered .

But in Antarctica , meteorites are easy to see – dark rock-and-roll on ice – and the harsh climate act like a freezer to keep meteorite , some for millions of year . A fall meteorite in Antarctica is quickly covered by snow and bury in one of the swell Antarctic glacier . The glacier easy move toward the sea , and their ice turns racy because all its air bubbles are squeezed out . Where the flow of the glaciers is impede , for example , by the Antarctic Mountains shown in the slide , the puritanical ice may be squeeze to the surface . Or the ice may just block moving ( become moribund ) . Either manner , the white surface ice evaporates in the wry winds of Antarctica , expose bluish crank and its meteorites .

It is hard to work and hoard meteorite on blue ice-skating rink . The surface of the icing is bubble from wind scouring , so it can depend as beautiful as the ocean airfoil in sunlight . However , the ice is self-coloured , slippery as glass , and hard as rock . ( Of naturally , you could fall into a crevasse , in which case , you might lessen 500 or 600 feet to your death – a very real danger for each expedition . )

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