UPDATE
Feb 5, 2026 10:33 AM CST
An attempt to drill through Antarctica's fast-melting Thwaites Glacier for insights on sea-level rise did not go as planned. British and South Korean researchers failed to get their instruments to the base of the glacier, roughly half a mile thick, after hot-water drilling. The instruments got lodged about 75% of the way through the ice, possibly as the glacier shifted, per the New York Times. The conclusion to a project nearly a decade in the making is "absolutely gutting," said Keith Makinson of the British Antarctic Survey. Still, the team leaves the continent with the first data ever gathered from under the glacier's main trunk, with indications of "plenty of heat to drive melting," said oceanographer Peter Davis.
Jan 21, 2026 7:36 AM CST
Scientists have finally planted their boots on one of the most closely watched chunks of ice on Earth, also known as the "Doomsday glacier." After weather delays stranded them 19 miles short of their destination, a 10-person international team has established a temporary camp on Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier, one of the planet's fastest-thinning ice giants, holding enough water to raise global sea levels by more than 2.5 feet, per PBS and the New York Times. Over the next few weeks, they'll attempt to drill roughly half a mile down through the ice to install instruments in the ocean below—gear that could clarify how warm seawater is eating away at the glacier from beneath, and how quickly that might translate into rising seas worldwide.
The clock is already ticking. The team must be off the ice by Feb. 7, when their support ship, the Korean icebreaker Araon, departs for another mission in New Zealand, per the Times. They've hauled some 17 tons of equipment by helicopter onto a narrow, flagged strip of ice that holds the drill site, a row of single-person sleeping tents, a mess tent outfitted with generators, and two basic toilet tents sunk into the snow. It will take about a week just to assemble the drilling system, and blizzards could stall work. "We're very lucky to be here; we also work very hard to be here," British Antarctic Survey engineer Scott Polfrey tells the Times, emphasizing both safety and the hope of producing "hard-hitting scientific results."
The urgency isn't just logistical. Warm currents continually gnaw at Thwaites' underside, while meltwater from friction and geothermal heat seeps out from the base, creating a complex mix that can speed thinning in ways models haven't fully captured. Scientists say that better measurements from under the ice are essential to refining projections, especially as observed melt rates in parts of Antarctica have at times far outpaced forecasts. The terrain itself is a risk: guides heard a "terrible loud crunching" as subsurface ice fractured under camp boundaries, forcing them to tighten the safe zone, per the Times. "My goal is finishing as fast as we can," says safety guide Jinsuk Kim. "We need to leave as fast as we can."
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
