Blood Falls (Antarctica)

In 2017, researchers revealed the answer to how water from the subglacial lake can be transported through the glacier. With the help of radar scanning, they found a network of subglacial rivers flowing through cracks in the glacier.[2] The salty water from the source lake has a freezing point lower than the glacier and releases heat when it freezes - something called latent heat.[2] The source water that comes into contact with the glacier freezes, while the latent heat melts the glacial ice, enabling rivers to flow.[2]

Since some of the source water have frozen on the way through the glacier, the water that reaches the glacier's mouth has an even higher concentration of salt and iron.[2] The presence of salt also increases the rate of the reaction between iron and oxygen, making Blood Falls even redder.[1]Blood Falls flows out onto a frozen lake in Taylor Valley, which is one of the McMurdo Dry Valleys - a series of valleys in Antarctica which despite the cold temperatures are ice-free due to the area's dry weather.