Mesmerizing GoPro Footage of a Journey Down a 900 Meter Deep Hot-Water Drilled Borehole in the Antarctic

Here's some footage from the top of a similar 900 m deep borehole hot water drilled in 2017. It's well worth watching all the way through with the sound on! @BAS_News pic.twitter.com/YYlYprtVZt

— Hot Water on Ice (@HotWaterOnIce) January 25, 2019

In 2017, the scientists of the British Antarctic Survey project BEAMISH drilled a 900 meter (2,953 feet) borehole into the Rutford Ice Stream in order to understand how fast the ice was melting, the deformation of the ice as it flows downstream and how well the ice sheet is holding up. The project captured absolutely amazing footage of the journey down this hot-water drilled holes with a GoPro camera.

BEAMISH tackles two aspects of uncertainty; first, the past behaviour of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and second, the flow of the fast “ice streams” that drain it. Through measurements at the ice surface, and by drilling to the bed of Rutford Ice Stream, we will find how long ago the ice sheet last disappeared completely, and how water and soft sediments underneath it helped the ice move fast on its journey to eventually melting in the sea.

More recently, the project hot-water drilled down over two kilometers into the same ice stream with similarly amazing results.

Another successful hole drilled, so some more images from beneath the surface. This time within the cavity created at 230m. It's so big you can't see the sides! @BAS_News pic.twitter.com/rInbyCUijr

— Hot Water on Ice (@HotWaterOnIce) February 14, 2019

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