Thread by @BBCWorld

This is Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica — they call it the "doomsday glacier"

Scientists warn it is melting more rapidly than they thought

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THREAD 👇

@BBCJustinR has just got back from two months with the biggest and most complex scientific field survey in Antarctic history

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@BBCJustinR Thwaites glacier is massive, roughly the size of Britain

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@BBCJustinR There is enough water locked up in it to raise world sea level by more than half a metre

But Thwaites sits like a keystone in the middle of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and there's 3 metres more locked up in there

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@BBCJustinR It is one of the most remote places on earth

It lies in the stormiest part of the world's stormiest continent

Until this year only 4 people had ever been on the front of the glacier

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@BBCJustinR Scientists drill down through almost half a mile of ice to get access to sea water below

They want to see where it is coming from and why it is melting the glacier so vigorously

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@BBCJustinR West Antarctica is uniquely vulnerable to melting because most of it is below sea level

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@BBCJustinR Deep warm ocean water is flowing in to the coast and melting the glacier

As the glacier retreats back, ever more ice is exposed

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@BBCJustinR Thwaites Glacier is not going to vanish overnight – it will take decades

But sea level changes have a huge effect on the severity of storm surges

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@BBCJustinR Take London. If the sea level increases by a metre, then a storm that used to come every thousand years is likely to come once a decade instead

Follow the link to read more about the melting of Thwaites Glacier and what impact it will have 👉 bbc.in/2U2zObH