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Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf is the world's largest floating slab of ice: it's about the size of Spain, and nearly a kilometer thick. The ocean beneath, roughly the volume of the North Sea, is one of the most important but least understood parts of the climate system. Now a research team has melted a hole through hundreds of meters of ice to explore this ocean and the ice shelf's vulnerability to climate change. Their measurements show that this hidden ocean is warming and freshening - but in ways they weren't expecting. [Source: The Conversation]
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