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Widespread cracks and crevasses were revealed in observations beneath the floating shelf of the vulnerable Thwaites Glacier of the Antarctic, where melting occurs more rapidly, contributing to its retreat and potentially to sea-level rise, according to a new study. The first-of-their-kind observations of the Florida-sized glacier was obtained by deploying the remotely operated Icefin underwater robot through a nearly 2,000-foot-deep borehole drilled in the ice, the study said. The research team from Cornell University, US, and international collaborators, captured the first close-up views of the critical point near the grounding line where Thwaites Glacier in western Antarctica - one of the continent's fastest changing and most unstable glaciers - meets the Amundsen Sea, the study said. From that area, the researchers concluded that Thwaites has retreated smoothly and steadily up the ocean floor since at least 2011. They found that flat sections covering much of the ice shelf's bas