Scientists explore Antarctica’s ‘doomsday’ glacier

Antarctica’s enormous Thwaites glacier, AKA the “Doomsday glacier”, is the size of Britain, but is becoming increasingly unstable and poses a major risk to millions of people living on coastlines around the world.

Thwaites contains enough water to directly raise sea levels by 65cm if it collapses, but there are fears it could also spark a chain reaction leading to even greater sea level rises of several metres.

Now, a new research mission has been launched using a fleet of underwater robots, to further investigate the melting ice sheet which is holding the glacier back.

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