How drilling the 'Doomsday Glacier' could save our cities from climate crisis | Global News Podcast

Hi, I'm Celia Hatton and welcome to the. Global News podcast on YouTube, where we. go behind the headlines to focus on one. story and why it matters. Today, a. mission to one of the ends of the Earth, Antarctica, where British and South. Korean scientists are teaming up to. reach the depths of one of the world's. biggest glaciers. Their research is. really important. What the scientists. learn could be vital in fighting the. existential threat of climate change. But it's not easy. It means drilling.

thousands of meters below the ice. surface while also surviving in super. cold conditions. We're joined by the. BBC's climate editor, Justin Rola, to. talk more about this. So Justin, just to. start, can you just tell us about this. glacia and why it's so important? So, Thuait Glacia, as an Englishman, Thwait. Glacia is a it's one of the largest and. most, you know, changeable or fastest. changing glasses in the whole world. Um,

it sort of sits in West Antarctica. Now, West Antarctica is really interesting. It's a kind of basin of ice. It sits. below sea level. So, it sits up to 2. kilometers below of ice from the bottom. of the sea up to the and then another 2. km above that. 4 km of ice and the fear. is obviously that's a lot of water above. sea level the water the ice above sea. level if it melts out would raise sea. levels so on its own this this tongue of. ice if you like in the center of the.

glacia kind of keystone within that bowl. of ice alone is 6 and a half cm of sea. level rise worldwide across the whole. world I mean think of the volume of. water you need to raise sea levels by. one centimeter let alone 65 um and it it. the The glacia alone is the size of. Great Britain. It's about the size of. the state of Florida. Um, and then it. also, as I say, acts like a kind of. keystone. It's the kind of cork in the. bottle that holds back a network of. other glacias. Glacias being kind of. slowm moving rivers of ice. So, it sort.

of stops them from flowing out. So, we're ths to melt out, the other glacias. would flow out as well. And then you're. talking about sort of three plus meters. of sea level rise. Now, when you. remember that virtually all of our towns. and cities, lot, not virtually all of. them, lots of our towns and cities are. in low-lying areas or on the coast, 3 m. of sea level rise with a big storm and a. high tide, you're talking a hell of a. lot of uh of of of additional water, enough to flood, devastating floods for,

you know, cities across. I mean, think. of New York. New York sits at sea level. You know, 3 meters of that is a really. substantial volume of water. That is why. the weights is so important. So, we're. going to talk more about this research. that I mentioned in just a moment, but. first we have to focus on the personal. element of the story because you are one. of the first the the few reporters or. even just people to ever visit Thuaits. Can can you tell us about that? >> So, the research they're doing at the. moment is actually towards the end of an.

almost decadel long project to look at. Thuait because it's such an important uh. body of ice. Um, and it involved a whole. series of of of teams going out to. different parts of the glacia. And I. went to the very front of the glacia, the kind of um the ice tongue of the. glacia where it floats on the seawater. Um, and we were the I mean, we say one. of very few people. I was one of like a. handful, maybe 25 people who've ever. been to that place at the front of the. glass. I mean, one of the most literally. the most remote places on Earth. I mean,

West Antarctica is, you know, remote. within Antarctica. And then you're right. at the end of the glacia. It felt like. it's probably the greatest adventure of. my life. It was two months in this. completely kind of I say alien. I mean. it feels alien. Antarctica is completely. unlike anywhere else on Earth. Really. amazing experience. >> Okay, I'm we're going to move on in a. moment, but just one one very quick. question. I mean, how many layers were. you wearing every day? Were you just. bundled up all the time? >> It's interesting. I mean, you're given a. big you're given a sort of a bag full of.

the most amazing, you know, cold weather. gear, including kind of, you know, long. johns and stuff and layer after layer. You get um you get these kind of quilted. trousers as well as quilted tops. You. get this super puffy kind of thousand. pound coat or $15,000 coat which is. supposed to be down to sort of -30 - 35. actually. And the air temperature is. obviously very cold in Antarctica, kind. of - 20 or something like that. But it's. sun. It's daytime all the time. 24-hour. sunlight. And when the sun is shining, it's the same sun that shines everywhere.

else on Earth. And it shines out and you. can actually get really hot. >> Well, let's focus again on on this. latest project. You mentioned you were. there for the start of it. I mean, what. are scientists trying to achieve? >> So, the the idea is to understand the. processes that are changing this glacia. that explain why satellite uh. observations show that it's moving. faster than ever. It's melting faster. than ever. Why is that happening? What. does it mean for global sea level rise? Those are the questions they want to. ask. They want to get down through the. ice to the point to it's called the.

grounding line. It's the point at which. the glacia which is sitting on the. seabed, remember lifts off. So the warm. water that comes in from the sea melting. underneath the glacia, it begins to lift. off and form an ice shelf. And that. obviously that's the point at which the. water is crucially interacting with the. ice. So they want to understand what the. currents are like, what the temperatures. are like. They also want to drill down. into the sediment, pull cores out, which. will show layers of of sediment over, you know, I mean, it could be hundreds. of years. And that might tell us whether. the glacia has melted out in the past,

how it's moved in the past. Could it, you know, refreeze and could could it. get bigger and draw water out of the sea. or is it going to continue to melt? So, these are all crucial me measurements. that will give us an idea about how that. glacia will change and therefore the. rest of uh the the ice in West. Antarctica as we described. Why is that. important? Now, that is important. because we need to plan for the sea. level rise that's coming. Climate change. is almost like turning up the thermostat. in your house. So, you had it at 20, now. it's at 22. So, the consequences of that.

will last for a long time. I mean, when. I it was it was it was actually quite a. shock to me. I remember saying to a. scientist, you know, you know, is this. going to melt out? And he said, well, of. course it is. Yeah. I mean, we've. changed the temperature. It will melt. out. The question is how long will it. take? >> Exactly. So, you know, I mean, he was. saying, you know, centuries and it could. be two, three centuries for it to melt. out. Now, that gives humanity time to. plan and build defenses and maybe move. special buildings and and that kind of.

thing. It gives us time to plan. Knowing. what the change, how long the changes. are likely to to take arms us with. knowledge that we can use to protect our. communities. So when when you say two to. three centuries then you know it becomes. a little bit more difficult for for for. us living in this current moment to. really worry about it. I mean they call. it the doomsday glacier don't they? >> Well it depends on your your mindset. doesn't it really? I mean don't we have. a responsibility to deliver ideally a.

better world to our children than the. one that we inherited? Um there's a duty. to future generations. you know, three. centuries sounds like a long time, but. actually, you know, it isn't that long, you know, looking back, you know, and. we've got a responsibility to humanity, the humanity that comes after us to. deliver a a better world. So, I mean, yeah, it's it's it is a long time in an. individual lifetime, but it isn't a long. time in the history of humanity. >> Any sense yet what those scientists are. finding, what what they what their.

conclusions might be? Uh well it I mean. because we've done some of the work has. come back from the work that you know. the trip that I was on. It seems there. is more warm water uh attacking the. bottom of the glacia. It does appear. that it's melting more quickly. So the. prognosis is not good in terms of the. work that they're doing now and they've. flown I think it was 40 helicopter. flights. They've went by boat to the to. the nose of the glacia and then flew. helicopters to get them onto the trunk. to the main fastest moving bit of the. glacia. The most dangerous. It's the. most creass one. And uh so they threw I.

think 40 helicopter flights to set up. this camp and they're just beginning. today which is why it's news to. beginning the drilling operation. They've melted water, they heat it up. and they melt their way down a. kilometer. I think it's I think it's a. meter every uh every minute. I think. it's uh yeah so it's a long process. Um. and uh yeah they're. >> it's fascinating when you describe the. lengths these scientists are going to. the amounts of money that are being. spent in order to get this data. I mean.

it just shows you how important this. data this data really is and how it. could change things. >> and how remote and inaccessible you know. the places that we're talking about are. I mean these were you know these were. places that you know 100 years ago you'd. think would never change and yet there's. great change. Actually I when I was. there I got quite emotional about the. idea. You go and you think this is a. pristine untouched wilderness. It's so. huge. I mean it's huge unimaginably. huge. Like I say we flew for eight hours. from McMurdo to waste divide. fly over. ice the entire time and you just think.

this is massive. You know, the roar of. the plane going at what 4 500 miles an. hour. So, it's huge uh uh uh area of ice. and then you realize, you know, that we. are these fundamental changes are. happening to the ice. The ice is moving. in ways it never did before. One of the. glaciologists said when I went into uh. glaciology, you know, I I thought it. would be a slowmoving science. He said. since I've you know, he'd been involved. for 30 years. He said it's it's become. this really dynamic, you know, science. in a way that it literally shouldn't be. Glacias are supposed to move really. slowly.

>> Yeah. And those those researchers must. be so dedicated because they're going. onto this research trip for for months. at a time, right? >> Well, they're doing, you know, they're. they're practicing their, you know, their kind of area of interest. I mean, it's a it is an amazing process to go. and I think I mean, look, it's not about. enjoying it, but it is it is a, you. know, a really profound experience. And. so and they are trained glaciologists. whose kind of you know career mission if. you like is to understand this stuff. So. this is a great opportunity for them. So. this is a really exciting moment for.

them I think is what I'd say. Um and no. it's fascinating. >> Justin just to finish on a on a on an. optimistic note if we can. I mean, we've. been talking about this doom and gloom. glacier. Uh, but you know, are there do. you see any cause for hope? Any. solutions to to to glacier melt that we. can all take away? Everybody watching on. YouTube? >> I remember thinking about that when I. was on the Glacia and I was thinking. about the unbelievable human effort that. had led to that research project that I. was on happening very similar to this.

one. all the people who'd been involved. in the preparatory science preparing all. the equipment, you know, building and. making the planes that flew us out. there. And you think of this huge chain. of humanity working together to the. objective of understanding these. processes on our earth better and. finding ways then to tackle the changes. that we're seeing. And I think the fact. that we can get together as a human. community and undertake these amazing. research efforts should give should give. us hope that we are capable of solving. some of these really big challenges that. we face. Thank you, Justin. The BBC's.

climate editor, Justin Rolat. Well, if. you liked this episode, do please. subscribe to us here on YouTube. And if. you'd like us to cover any other. stories, please leave a comment below. You can hear more international news on. the BBC's Global News podcast. Listen. wherever you get your podcasts. Bye-bye.