Have a look at the SWAIS2C progress: melting the main borehole

See the new SWAIS2C-video on the team´s progress here!

The hot water drillers have begun to melt the main borehole. The current hole is located alongside the well hole, and the first step is to melt down through the firn layer to approximately 100 metres, before it is time to go all the way through the 580 metre-thick ice shelf to reach the 55 metre-thick sea water cavity. Once the hot water drill breaks through the ice shelf the water level in the borehole will equilibrate to mean sea level.

The vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet holds enough ice to raise sea level by 4-5 m if it melts completely. Research has found a collapse might be inevitable for some parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, such as the area around the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ (Thwaites Glacier) in the Amundsen Sea, due to the presence of warm water next to it. In contrast, water underneath the large Ross Ice Shelf is still cold. The Ross Ice Shelf serves as a stabilising buttress to the inland ice of other areas of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. But we lack direct evidence if, and when, we will lose it.

Understanding what temperature will trigger unavoidable melt of the Ross Ice Shelf, and the subsequent collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is critical for all of humanity. This is the challenge driving the scientists, drillers and Antarctic field specialists from 13 countries to come together as part of the SWAIS2C (Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to 2°C of warming) project, and why the “on-ice” team of 27 will camp at the drilling site this Antarctic summer.

For more info:
More information about the SWAIS2C project
Messages of the Day posted daily during the drilling phase
Photo Gallery