SWAIS2C: Kiwi scientists involved in drill to uncover secrets of Antarctica's past

New Zealand scientists are planning to drill nearly a kilometre through Antarctic ice and into the earth below, in a bid to answer how much warming the ice sheet can withstand.

If they get past 0.6 metres into the ocean bed, they'll already have gone deeper than anyone has before - and they want to hit 160m.

There's another catch: the ocean bed sits beneath 700 metres of ice and another 40 metres of water.

The project is part of a multi-country collaboration to see how fast the ice sheet has melted in the past, and under what conditions.

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