A mysterious hole the size of Maine has opened up in Antarctica, stumping scientists who have no clue how it formed, Motherboard reports. "It looks like you just punched a hole in the ice," explained University of Toronto Mississauga professor Kent Moore.
Called a "polynya" — an area of open ocean water in the midst of ice — the spot was first observed in the same location in the 1970s, but scientists at the time were limited in their ability to study it. "At that time, the scientific community had just launched the first satellites that provided images of the sea-ice cover from space. On-site measurements in the Southern Ocean still require enormous efforts, so they are quite limited," Dr. Torge Martin told Phys.org.
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