Where the ice meets the bedrock at the very bottom of the glacier, the meltwater is exposed to phosphorus - rich rocks that are pulverized by the moving glacier. (sciencedaily.com)
Derived from the French word for mill, these vertical wells drain surface melt water and can be dozens of metres deep or can extend down to the very bottom of a glacier. (swissinfo.ch)
By having upstream and downstream stations on each glacier, Scambos will see the dynamic nature of glacial response — the manner in which the bottom of the glacier accelerates before its higher reaches do, thus causing it to stretch, thin and welt up with crevasses the way Sjögren Glacier did. (scientificamerican.com)