Scientists concerned by discovery after sending robot under the 'Doomsday Glacier'

The Doomsday Glacier - which is the size of Florida - holds enough ice to raise the ocean by 3.3 meters Scientists have been left concerned over a discovery after they sent a robot to the 'Doomsday Glacier'. In case you didn't know, the glacier - which is officially known as the Thwaites Glacier - is located in West Antarctica - and earned its nickname due to the impact it could have on sea levels across the globe. Essentially, the 'Doomsday Glacier' - which is the size of Florida - holds enough ice to raise the ocean by 3.3 meters, should it melt. It doesn't sound like much, but in the last century, global temperatures have risen by 1°C, which is having a devastating impact on the oceans and our planet. Now, researchers at the site of the Thwaites Glacier previously found that deep cracks are forming on the shelf, which helps keep the glacier in one piece. It was said that these cracks were degrading at a concerning rate, so scientists sent a robot deep down into the icy surface to get a better look at what was going on with the glacier and to see just how bad things were. The results were published February 2023. The device, named 'Icefin', bored down around 2,000ft and took a collection of photos and video. It also recorded vital pieces of date, including temperature and salt levels. It wasn't great news, with fears growing that the rate of melting could lead to its collapse.

The team sent a robot down beneath the surface of the glacier to see what was going on (Rob Robbins) In a statement to CNN, lead researcher Peter Davis said it was 'a very nuanced and complex picture'. He said: "The glacier is still in trouble. What we have found is that despite small amounts of melting there is still rapid glacier retreat, so it seems that it doesn’t take a lot to push the glacier out of balance." Speaking in 2024, Christine Dow, an associate professor of glaciology at the University of Waterloo has said that they hope it'll take at least 500 years for the Doomsday Glacier to melt. "We really, really need to understand how fast the ice is changing, how fast it is going to change over the next 20 to 50 years," she explained to Scientific American. "We were hoping it would take a hundred, 500 years to lose that ice. A big concern right now is if it happens much faster than that." If the glacier collapses, it could raise oceans by 65 centimeters, which is actually pretty significant.

Over the last 100 years, global temperatures have risen about 1°C (Getty Stock Photo) “It doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you think of how much ocean water we have in the world, that’s a huge volume,” added Dow. In 2024, Arête Glacier Initiative was set up to focus on 'gathering critical data, advocating for National Science Foundation-led monitoring, and developing new technologies for Antarctic research', according to their website. Brent Minchew, an associate professor of geophysics at MIT and co-founder of Arête Glacier Initiative, told MIT Technology Review last month: “About a million people are displaced per centimeter of sea-level rise. “If we’re able to bring that down, even by a few centimeters, then we would safeguard the homes of millions.”