Ships, robots and the fight to study Thwaites Glacier

The Araon is a South Korean icebreaker that has been used for Antarctic and Arctic research. It is operated by the Korea Polar Research Institute and was built for polar science. The ship can break about one metre of sea ice at slow speed and it has carried researchers and submersibles into remote seas. Although sea ice can block access, Araon has enabled teams to work near large glaciers while ships with less capability cannot. A new, larger icebreaker is being planned to expand research reach.

Thwaites Glacier is one of the fastest‑changing glaciers in West Antarctica and it has been losing ice for years. Scientists have been studying warm ocean water under the ice because those currents can speed melting. In an earlier mission an autonomous underwater vehicle named Ran went missing under Thwaites during operations from Araon in January 2024, and that loss underlined the difficulty of the work. Teams have planned moorings and drilling to measure temperature and currents below the ice so that long‑term records can be gathered. Researchers hope these data will improve models of sea level change.