In this week’s Video of the Week take the first look beneath Thwaites Glacier, the Florida-size slipping cork of ice keeping the West Antarctic Ice Sheet intact. On Monday Earther published the video with the story “‘Goosebumps’: Researchers Capture First Video From Under Antarctica’s Most Endangered Glacier.”

Video republished with permission from Earther

Last month researchers used hot water to bore a hole to the bottom of the glacier, opening an access point for data collection and imagery. The effort is a product of MELT, one component of eight multi-disciplinary research proposals led by a team of American and British scientists from the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration Project (ITGC), to better understand how the warm water is melting the glacier at the grounding line.

The footage was taken using Icefin, “a small, under-ice, robotic oceanographer,” from the Georgia Institute of Technology––one of five universities involved with MELT. “Her [Schmidt’s] video is like seeing the surface of the moon for the first time,” American Geophysical Union president and glaciologist Robin Bell told Earther. “The video gives me goosebumps.”

Like the surface of the moon indeed. According to Earther’s video, “More people have walked in space than have been the remote, harsh environment of Thwaites.”

Icefin aims to characterize sub-ice environments using sonar, chemical, and biological sensors to explore ice and water conditions around and beneath ice shelves (Source: Georgia Institute of Technology).

Read More on GlacierHub:

Photo Friday: Thwaites Glacier Bore Hole Drilled

Project Aims to Better Understand “Doomsday” Glacier

Glacial Geoengineering: The Key to Slowing Sea Level Rise?