Scientists are investigating unusual radio signals detected in Antarctica that appear to originate from below the continent’s vast ice sheets. These observations have attracted the keen interest of researchers, because they say the signals have no correlation to what current models of physics predict should be possible.

The strange events were detected by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, better known as ANITA. This experimental antenna is designed to search for high-energy particles arriving from space, but instead recorded something researchers did not expect to find.

ANITA consists of instruments carried high above Antarctica by a balloon. From that vantage point, it listens for radio pulses generated when extremely energetic particles interact with the ice sheet below.

One of ANITA’s goals is to detect neutrinos, nearly massless particles that can pass through enormous amounts of matter. Scientists hoped that these elusive particles would reveal information about powerful cosmic events occurring across the universe.

The mystery began when ANITA detected radio signals apparently emerging upward from deep underneath the Antarctic ice. According to our current understanding, the particles thought to create such signals should have been absorbed long before reaching the detector.

Researchers calculated that the signals appeared to arrive at angles that would require particles to travel through thousands of kilometers of rock before emerging. Existing theories suggest such particles should lose energy or be stopped entirely.

The detected events don’t fit neatly into any known subatomic particle behavior. According to researchers, no currently accepted explanation can fully account for the characteristics of the observed signals, making them a significant scientific puzzle.

Scientists carefully reviewed the observations to determine whether equipment malfunctions or analysis errors might explain the results. The signals remained unusual even after extensive examination of the recorded data.

Read More: Scientists are investigating a strange signal coming from deep beneath Earth’s surface