Giant Hole Found Under Antarctic Glacier In “Disturbing” Discovery

The cavity is two-thirds the size of Manhattan.

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Losing a glacier has an enormous impact on the environment. (NASA)

Scientists believe there to be a huge hole two-thirds the size of Manhattan under a glacier in Antarctica.

CBS News reports that the massive cavity is just one of “several disturbing discoveries” made recently by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the agency said.

The Thwaites Glaciers is located in West Antarctica and is about the size of Florida. If it were to melt, the glacier would contribute more than two feet to sea level rise. The crater is growing at an “explosive” rate.

“The findings highlight the need for detailed observations of Antarctic glaciers’ undersides in calculating how fast global sea levels will rise in response to climate change,” NASA’s JPL said.

Jeff Berardelli, a CBS News climate and weather contributor says that the glacier isn’t just melting along the edges but also from underneath.

NASA says the hole could have held up to 14 billion tons of ice, much of which has melted in the past three year.

Researchers believe that this glacier is directly responsible for about four percent of the total global sea level rise.

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