ABSTRACT
A hole bored through 2164 m of ice at Byrd Station in the Antarctic found liquid water at the base of the hole. Given that the rate at which the Earth loses heat from its surface is about 0.06 W m-2 and that the mean surface temperature of Antarctica is -50 C show that the presence of liquid water is to be expected under such a depth of ice. The thermal conductivity of ice is 2 W m-l K-1.
