Transcripts For BBCNEWS Our World 20200725

England, but there is a warning, up toa england, but there is a warning, up to a third may stay shut because of financial troubles. British grown musician wiley is dropped by his management following a stream of anti semitic comments on his social media accounts. Peter green, the influential blues guitarist and co founder of the band Fleetwood Mac has died at the age of 73. Antarctica is one of the worlds most remote places. We went to see the so called doomsday glazier. Domesday glacier. Antarctica the worlds most remote and inhospitable consonant. This is the story of a team of scientists who are trying to get to thwaites, the so called doomsday glacier. No one has really been under thwaites, and what icefins going to do is get up and close to the sea floor and allow us to see what is happening in a real way. Oh, oh look at that 0h yeah what happens to thwaites affects us all because as it melts it will drive up the sea level around the world. This glacier is part of a system. If it all of that goes, you could end up with upwards of three metres of sea level rise. But first, the scientists need to get there. Its so difficult to operate here all of the planes are grounded. They say we wont fly anywhere. One only does anything in antarctica with the cooperation of the weather. Antarctica is a place of extremes. It is the coldest, highest, driest and windiest continent on earth. Capped by an ice sheet of up to five kilometres thick, this continent contains 90 of the worlds ice. I begin myjourney in new zealand. I dont need your passport, thats all good. They say travelling to antarctica is like travelling to another planet. So, here goes. The us air force provides the planes. The safety briefing may be familiar, but nothing else about this flight is. Im travelling with professor david vaughan, the director of science at the British Antarctic survey. After flying due south for five hours, i get my first glimpse of antarctica, snow and ice stretching as far as the eye can see. Finally, our destination. We are heading to mcmurdo. Which is pretty much straight off over there. It is the last fingerhold of civilisation, the most southerly town on earth, and the largest centre for Scientific Research on the continent. And out across the sea ice, the first peaks of the mighty tra nsa ntarctic mountains. Keep it staying in place. It is here in mcmurdo that our expedition to the thwaites glacier begins. So, thwaites glacier is vulnerable and there is nothing stopping a collapse once it really takes hold. Thwaites glacier is the size of britain and already accounts for 4 of global sea level rise. The fear is if the melt rate increases, much of the west Antarctic Ice sheet could go, too. That could raise world sea levels by more than three metres. Why is the glacier changing, why is it being eaten away . Its being eaten away because there are winds on the oceans surface that are actually driving currents away from this ice sheet. When that happens, this water comes in underneath like this. This deep ocean water is really warm. And that eats away at the glacier . This normally doesnt happen. These winds have been increasing and so more of this water has been coming up onto the Continental Shelf and interacting with this glacier. The Scientists Say Global Warming has changed the wind patterns and sea currents, bringing warm ocean water to the front of the glacier. We have loaded the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, we have set the temperature going up, and. Doctor Britney Schmidt is in charge of a nasa robot submarine called icefin. The plan is to lower it almost half a mile through the ice to map conditions in the seawater below. So, britney, give me a tour of icefin . So, up at the front we have sensors that are going to make measurements