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Tuesday 17 September 2019 4:18pm

HWD-2 Borehole

Hot Water Drill Site 2 Borehole, Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Photo Source: K Gragg

Climate change is at the centre of a remarkable international drilling operation into Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf this summer.

David Williams reports.

"If your patient is seriously ill then making radiological scans, and analysing the resulting grainy images, can suggest the source of the problem. But there's no substitute for surgeons actually opening them up and having a look."

"The same applies to Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf, the world's largest floating body of ice. For several summers, scientists have been assessing what lies in front of the stalled Kamb Ice Stream, about 850 kilometres from Scott Base, near the “grounding line”, where the ice leaves land and starts floating. Radio waves have been fired into the ice and small explosives set off, creating “echoes” in black-and-white images much like those produced in hospitals."

See the full article here: Newsroom

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