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Scientists have for the first time successfully drilled over two kilometres through the ice sheet in West Antarctica using hot water, an advance they say will help understand how the region will respond to a warming climate. Scientists have for the first time successfully drilled over two kilometres through the ice sheet in West Antarctica using hot water, an advance they say will help understand how the region will respond to a warming climate. The 11-person team led by scientists at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has been working on the Rutford Ice Stream for the last 12 weeks in freezing temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius. On January 8, following a 63 hour continuous round-the-clock drilling operation, the team broke through to the sediment 2,152 metres below the surface, BAC said in a statement. A string of instruments were fed through the borehole which will record water pressure, ice temperature and deformation within the ice around it. The ...