A massive underground lake discovered in Greenland could hold upwards of 100 billion tons of freshwater, according to researchers.

The lake, discovered by a team of Utah researchers, is located in the southwestern portion of the country and scientists say it could hold upwards of 100 billion tons of freshwater, making it one of the largest freshwater sources on Earth.

The lake, which covers more than 27,000 square miles  — an area larger than the state of West Virginia — could ultimately allow scientists to better understand the effects of global warming. Greenland serves as one of the largest contributors to rising seas. The unusual lake’s properties may allow scientists to determine exactly where water resides during the spring when surface runoff appears across the island.

“We thought we had an understanding of how things work in Greenland, but here is this entire storage system of water we didn’t realize was there,” said Richard Forster, a glaciologist at the University of Utah and lead author of the study.

While the amount of water is stunning, scientists say that ultimately it is a drop in the bucket. There is enough water in the snow aquifer to raise global sea level by just 0.015 inches, according to a separate study.

In addition, scientists say they plan additional research to determine the exact age of the lake. The group will return to southeast Greenland in the coming years to answer these and other questions, Forster said.

“Just seeing how old it is would answer a lot of questions,” he said.

While the lake was discovered in 2011, researchers were not able to collect samples until recently. The team collected a total of four samples, and two were intact enough to determine the salinity of the water.

Foster and his team say the lake may have gone undiscovered for so long due to the large amount of snow that falls in the region. The location of the underground lake is near some of the tallest mountains on the island, resulting in a far larger amount of snow. A number of research teams have long avoided the region, due in part, to the climate.

The scientists relied on ground-penetrating radars to pear below the surface to discovery the large reservoir of water. The fact was also confirmed by NASA’s Operation Ice Bridge flew over the area with a specially equipped aircraft. According to NASA, the aircraft found that the reservoir extended far out beyond the area covered by the research team.