Beneath the glacier lies the Ferrigno Rift, a rift valley some 1.5 km deep, 10 km wide, and at least 100 km long.[2] The rift valley was discovered using ice-penetrating radar during a survey of the glacier in 2010 by a team from the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Aberdeen investigating ice-melt on the glacier that had been measured using satellites.[3] The ice-filled rift valley is connected to the ocean and is believed to impact ice loss on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.[3]
^Bingham, Robert G.; Ferraccioli, Fausto; King, Edward C.; Larter, Robert D.; Pritchard, Hamish D.; Smith, Andrew M.; Vaughan, David G. (2012). "Inland thinning of West Antarctic Ice Sheet steered along sub-glacial rifts". Nature. 487: 468–471. doi:10.1038/nature11292.