--- title: "Ship of Scientists Headed to Doomsday Glacier" description: "A ship carrying nearly 40 scientists from across the globe is now heading straight to the \"Doomsday Glacier\" in Antarctica." date: "2025-12-30" modified: "2025-12-30" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/science-energy/scientists-doomsday-glacier" categories: - "Climate Change" - "Environment" - "Science & Energy" --- # Ship of Scientists Headed to Doomsday Glacier ![A ship carrying nearly 40 scientists from across the globe is now heading straight to the "Doomsday Glacier" in Antarctica.]() *Getty Images* A team of scientists are staring climate change in the eye, the [*New York Times* reports](), setting sail for the infamous "Doomsday Glacier" in Antarctica in an attempt to study it up close. The enormous [Thwaites Glacier](), at roughly the size of Florida, harbors enough water to raise sea levels across the globe by over two feet should it melt completely. Research has suggested that it's already undergoing rapid melting — but its future, which holds the fate of our planet in the balance, is uncertain. On Saturday, a crew of nearly 40 researchers left on a ship from a port in New Zealand to get more answers. A number of intriguing experiments are slated, but everyone's going in knowing that all won't go according to plan. "There will be a Plan A through F," Chris Pierce, a glaciologist at Montana State University whose team hopes to use airborne radar to effectively x-ray Thwaites' ice, told the *NYT*. There's no doubt that Thwaites is melting quickly. How quickly, and what its melting could cause, however, are the questions that loom large. Scientists fear that the glacier's melting could trigger a collapse of the broader West Antarctic ice sheet. Over a mile thick in some portions, if the sheet collapsed, it could raise sea levels by up to a staggering 15 feet, practically drowning the planet over the course of several centuries. This is a worst case scenario, but the possibility is too severe to ignore, with some evidence suggesting that a similar event may have taken place around 120,000 years ago. Recent research ha**s** suggested that Thwaites is [more vulnerable to warming]() than once thought. Perhaps the most alarming discovery was that the glacier's vast underbelly, once thought to be sealed off from warming because it hugged the seafloor, was being exposed to warm seawater which sneaks in as rising tides lift the glacier off the seafloor, causing "vigorous melting." "Thwaites has really broken up in front of our eyes," Doug Benn, a glaciologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, told the *NYT*. One of the most intriguing experiments will rely on an unlikely source of help: seals. Rather than having robots collect data, the researchers will attach sensors to the blubbery mammals, collecting data on ocean temperature and salinity that's transmitted to satellites. The data the seals gather won't be as random as you might think, Lars Boehme, an ecologist at the University of St. Andrews, told the *NYT*. The seals "go where the food is," Boehme said. "And very often, that's a place where, in terms of the environment and oceanography, things are happening." **More on climate change:** [*Rivers Turn Bright Orange in Alaska*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()