"To create a hole reaching the Antarctic waters, scientists and engineers blasted a borehole around one foot in diameter and about 3,300 feet deep using hot water. Unless the team kept applying hot water, they estimated it would re-freeze in just 48 hours. Their window of opportunity only lasted the weekend - if the scientists didn't secure the instruments by Monday, an approaching front of bad weather would prevent helicopters from extracting them, effectively stranding them for an indeterminate period of time."
"Despite successfully dipping a set of pilot instruments into the drink before pulling them back out again, their main equipment became entombed in ice before it reached its destination. Keith Makinson, an oceanographer and drilling engineer told the NYT it was "absolutely gutting." "You get your window of opportunity," he lamented. "You don't have forever. And you see what you can do.""
A scientific mission attempted to place instruments beneath Thwaites Glacier by blasting a one-foot-diameter, 3,300-foot borehole with hot water. The borehole began to re-freeze rapidly and gave the team only a weekend window before an approaching storm would prevent helicopter extraction. Main instruments became entombed about three-quarters of the way and were stranded when crews could not secure them before bad weather. A set of pilot instruments was successfully lowered and retrieved, providing the first measurements beneath the glacier's main trunk that show warm, fast-flowing waters. Those pilot data provide evidence for investigations into the glacier's accelerated melting and potential global consequences.
Read at Futurism
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