India, April 11 -- It started as a change in route because of a storm, but it turned into a surprising discovery. As a team of 93 international researchers on the German research ship Polarstern was working in the northwestern Weddell Sea when bad weather forced them to take shelter near Joinville Island. While waiting for the storm to pass, they noticed something unusual, a piece of land that was not shown on modern maps, in an area long marked as a danger zone.

As per a press release by the institute, at first, the discovery did not seem important. From a distance, the crew saw what looked like a dirty iceberg. Simon Dreutter, a mapping expert from the Alfred Wegener Institute, decided to take a closer look.

"Looking out of the window...