A team of Canadian scientists has made a surprising find: a permanent spring that flows year-round despite being located in the High Arctic of Canada .
It is the northernmost perennial spring on our planet that runs during all seasons of the year immersed in an extreme polar climate; hence its waters can reach temperatures of up to -50º C.
The discovery of this spring, baptized as the river of ice , has taken place on the island of Ellesmere, Nunavut, in the Canadian High Arctic. According to experts, the spring discharges from a colluvial reservoir at an altitude of 300 meters on a south-facing slope with a 21-degree incline, throughout the year, even during the 24-hour darkness of the coldest winter months, and circulates down to a depth of 3 kilometers before returning through the permafrost like a spring.
The presence of this river of ice raises many questions for geologists, since it is unknown how it is possible that a spring of such volume could originate in a polar desert environment such as the Canadian High Arctic, whose low temperatures and morphology could well resemble to those of the planet Mars itself.
