Scientists working for the British Antarctic Survey ( BAS ) have come through in drill a 2 - km ( 1.2 mi ) hole in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet , snub through to its base . That , for the record , is deeper than any previous seek to carve a gob in West Antarctic using a hot - water system recitation .
The purpose of this heroic endeavour is to drag up sediment from the trash tack ’s al-Qa’ida – sediment the scientists hope will help them find out quite how quickly climate variety is make Antarctic meth to melt .
" The Antarctic and Greenland chalk sheets toy a major theatrical role in master Earth ’s ocean level and clime , but our sympathy of their history and motion is poor , " BAS explainon their site .
harmonise to BAS , the biggest uncertainty we currently face when it get to predicting sea level rise are frosting sheets like the West Antarctic , which have the capacity to do off irreversible ocean level procession that could persist for 10 , if not C .
Worryingly , crank melt seems to be occurring at a quick rate than many glacial experts had expect . And , hopefully , that is something the project , called BEAMISH ( Bed Access , Monitoring and Ice Sheet History ) , will help to redress by better our understanding .
The positioning is theRutford Ice Stream , a large and fast - flowing glacier that drains into the Weddell Sea . BAS describes the Rutford Ice Stream as a “ typical ” Antarctic outlet glacier . It is almost 300 kilometers ( 186 miles ) long , and varies between 20 to 30 km ( 12 to 18 miles ) in width .
To get to the bottom of this 2 - kilometer deep ice sheet , the squad funnel spicy water through a high - pressure hose to bore their manner through the water ice . After 63 hours of constant drilling , the team completed their military mission on January 8 , 2019 .
Holes made with different techniques and equipment ( for example , corers ) have made it further but this is the very deepest that ’s so far been achieved using this method acting . former attack have been made and all proved abortive .
" I have look for this present moment for a long time and am entranced that we ’ve last achieved our finish , " squad drawing card Andy Smith , fountainhead of the Ice Sheet Stability Programme , say in astatement .
" There are gaps in our cognition of what ’s happening in West Antarctica and by examine the country where the ice sit around on soft deposit , we can interpret well how this region may change in the future tense and contribute to global sea - level rising . "
But it does n’t block off there . A second hole has now been completed next to the first and another two are to come . The idea is to drill four in total , two in two site to probe dissimilar sediment types and the max telephone number of instrument to be used , squad phallus Keith Makinson toldthe BBC .
