Submarine venturing where no human has been

As if emulating the fascinating but dangerous polar exploration expeditions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this photo shows us a ship that entered unknown territory.

It is, however, a small unmanned submarine, and its voyage was made only a few years ago.

The Ran submarine did something that had never been done before: sailed under the ice of the Antarctic Thwaites Glacier, ominously nicknamed “the Doomsday Glacier”.

El Ran carried out various measurements and discovered that the inflow of hot water to the glacier is greater than had been believed until then.

This finding demonstrated to the world that the glacier is melting faster than previously thought, and that its flow of meltwater into the sea is greater than previously thought.

The Ran’s voyage was made as part of research carried out by an international team that included Anna Wåhlin, from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, and Karen Heywood, from the University of East Anglia in the UK.

(Photo: Philip Stedt)

The study was titled “Pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica”. And it was published in the academic journal Science Advances. (Fountain: NCYT by Amazings)