CNN —An ancient landscape hidden under the East Antarctic ice sheet for at least 14 million years has been revealed with the help of satellite data and planes equipped with ice-penetrating radar. Scientists used the remote sensing techniques to map 32,000 square kilometers (12,300 square miles) of land — an area around the same size as Belgium. “The land underneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is less well known than the surface of Mars,” Jamieson said in a statement. The ancient landscape was discovered beneath the ice inland from Denman Glacier in East Antarctica pictured here. The East Antarctic ice sheet first formed around 34 million years ago, but it would have subsequently fluctuated in size, sometimes revealing the land beneath.

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Persons: Stewart Jamieson, ” Jamieson, Jamieson, We’re Organizations: CNN, Nature Communications, University of Durham, NASA Locations: Belgium, North Wales, Denman, East Antarctica