Most people will never glimpse the inside of a glacier, but scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) have shared an incredible video of their attempt to drill through Thwaites Glacier – also known as the 'Doomsday Glacier'.
In the footage, which they shared on Instagram, the camera plummets down a long hole – created by hot water drilling – into the belly of the glacier, where it discovers several caverns.
According to BAS, Thwaites Glacier is "one of the most remote, rapidly changing and unstable glaciers in Antarctica." The scientists’ drilling attempt was intended to capture important measurements that could help them understand how warm water under the glacier is causing it to melt.
The mission didn’t go to plan as some of the equipment became lodged in the ice.
"Failure is always an option when you are pushing at the limits of scientific exploration," says Peter Davis, an oceanographer at BAS, in a statement. "We know heat beneath Thwaites Glacier is driving ice loss. These observations are an important step forward, even though we are disappointed the full deployment could not be achieved."
The hole they created in the ice will have already vanished. "The 30 cm hole will freeze in around 48-72 hours," says Dr. Keith Makinson, an oceanographer and lead hot water drilling engineer at BAS, adding that the glacier is over 40 miles wide so won’t be negatively affected by their operation.
“With the mooring entombed in the ice there is no risk to environment or wildlife,” he adds. “Eventually it will become part of an iceberg and then melt out and remain on the ocean floor.”
Although they didn’t fully achieve their goals this time, the scientists say that the attempt still gave them useful information that will help them try again in future.
"Returning to deploy a long-term mooring to monitor the evolving melting conditions and understand the ice-ocean processes will be critical for understanding and correctly modelling how this region will evolve over the coming decades and centuries," says Makinson.
Top image: Thwaites Glacier. Credit: Getty
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