Earlier this year, an iceberg the size of Chicago broke off the Antarctic Peninsula. When the gigantic iceberg calved, it revealed a previously hidden 209-square-mile area of seafloor that had never been accessible to humans before.

In large part thanks to being in the right place at the right time, researchers discovered a thriving marine ecosystem underneath a massive 19-miles-long iceberg after it cracked off the ice sheet off the coast of Antarctica earlier this year.

Never seen, perhaps, but that doesn't mean forever to remain unknown. For years, the British Antarctic Survey has been flying planes over the frozen southern continent, using radar, sound waves, and gravity mapping to ascertain the shape of the bedrock sequestered below.