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The frozen continent of Antarctica holds vital clues to the future of Earth and civilization.
West Antarctica has been shedding 150 cubic kilometers of ice into the ocean each year,
mostly through a series of major glaciers that flow into this region called the Amundsen Sea.
Scientists have been tracking relatively warm currents that have been flowing up from the deep.
The currents race up the rugged continental slope
where they interact with glaciers that extend out into the sea.
Eddies form where the current flows beneath it.
Up ahead you can see them hitting one of the largest and most dynamic of these glaciers
called Pine Island.
You can see the effect these warm currents are having by
moving into the deep dark spaces below Pine Island.
The ice above us several hundred meters thick has been melting from below.