A skinny robot documents the forces eroding a massive Antarctic glacier

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A robot nicknamed Icefin operates under the sea ice near McMurdo Station in Antarctica in 2020. The pencil-shaped robot is giving scientists their first look at the forces eating away at the Thwaites glacier. Schmidt/Lawrence/AP

Schmidt/Lawrence/AP

Scientists got their first up-close look at what’s eating away part of Antarctica’s Thwaites ice shelf, nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier because of its massive melt and sea rise potential, and it’s both good and bad news.

Using a 13-foot pencil-shaped robot that swam under the grounding line where

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