(CNN)A massive cavity two-thirds the size of Manhattan has been discovered growing in an Antarctic glacier, signaling rapid ice decay that has shocked scientists.
The huge hole — measuring almost 1,000 feet (300 meters) tall — was found growing at an “explosive rate” at the bottom of a glacier in West Antarctica, said NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a statement Wednesday.
The Thwaites Glacier is around the size of Florida, and the team of NASA-led scientists researching it had expected to find “some gaps” between the ice and bedrock.