Scientists studying West Antarctica in hopes of weighing its ice sheets have stumbled across an unlikely discovery buried on the world's coldest continent: a smoldering volcano over half a mile underneath the ice.

"We weren't expecting to find anything like this," said Doug Wiens, a professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

The team of researchers originally set up to measure seismic activity under Antarctica in order to better understand the relationship between the ice sheets and the Earth below. Two bursts of seismic activity between January 2010 and March 2011, however, sparked the interest of Amanda Lough, a PhD student of Wiens.

"I started seeing events that kept occurring at the same location, which was odd. Then I realized they were close to some mountains, but not right on top of them," said Lough.

"My first thought was, 'OK, maybe it's just coincidence.' But then I looked more closely and realized that the mountains were actually volcanoes and there was an age progression to the range. The volcanoes closest to the seismic events were the youngest ones."

Further tests ruled out ice movement, and an aerial radar survey revealed a layer of ash trapped in the ice. All signs pointed to a volcano.

Analysis of the sub-surface volcano revealed that the volcano could contribute to faster ice loss. Although it would take an eruption with 1,000 times the power of a typical eruption to punch a hole through the surface, any eruption would release a large amount of heat. The resulting melted ice would lubricate the bedrock, speeding up the streams of ice that flow into the seas.

"The volcano will create millions of gallons of water beneath the ice — many lakes full," Wiens said.

You can read the full published study detailing the findings in the journal Nature Geoscience.