Antarctica Doomsday Glacier

Antarctica's vast Thwaites glacier, which could push up global sea levels by half a metre because of its melting ice, is "in trouble", according to ...

What we have found is that despite small amounts of melting there is still rapid glacier retreat, so it seems that it doesn't take a lot to push the glacier out of balance." It shatters," said Ms Schmidt, lead author of one of two studies published yesterday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature. "That's how the glacier is falling apart. The more the glacier breaks up or retreats, the more ice floats in water, displacing water levels like an ice cube in a glass of water. "If an ice shelf and a glacier is in balance, the ice coming off the continent will match the amount of ice being lost through melting and iceberg calving. The glacier retreating - whereby ice breaks off into the sea - is a more severe problem than the melt, Mr Davis said.

As part of the International Thwaites Glacier collaboration - the biggest field campaign ever attempted in Antarctica - a team of 13 U.S. and British ...

and British scientists spent about six weeks on the glacier in late 2019 and early 2020. He reviewed the papers, but was not involved in the research. Scientists have previously depended on satellite images to show the behavior of the ice, making it difficult to get granular details. "If we observe less melting... As part of the International Thwaites Glacier collaboration - the biggest field campaign ever attempted in Antarctica - a team of 13 U.S. "Warm water is getting into the weakest parts of the glacier and making it worse," Schmidt told Reuters.

The pencil-shaped robot is giving scientists their first look at the forces eating away at the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica.

Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier is reportedly melting “rapidly” in unexpected ways, according to new research published Wednesday by Cornell University and ...

“Despite it being so remote, the consequences of what happens on Thwaites will impact everybody.” Since the glacier acts as a dam to the surrounding ice in west Antarctica, if it melts and collapses, it could raise sea levels by up to 10 feet, oceanic researchers from Cornell and the British Antarctic Survey reported. However, if the ice shelf melts sooner, it could cause a retreat of the glacier which would be both unstable and possibly irreversible. The shelf acts as a cork, holding the dense body of ice back on the land. They specifically looked at the glacier’s grounding line — where ice slides off and meets the ocean. “What we have found is that despite small amounts of melting there is still rapid glacier retreat, so it seems that it doesn’t take a lot to push the glacier out of balance.”

It suggests that while melting beneath much of the ice shelf is weaker than expected, melting in cracks and crevasses is much faster.

Observations from where the ice enters the ocean show that while melting beneath much of the ice shelf is weaker than expected, melting in cracks and crevasses is much faster. Although the vertical melting along the base of the ice shelf was less than expected, melting along sloped ice in these cracks and terraces is much higher and may be a significant factor in ice loss across Thwaites Glacier, researchers say. It suggests that while melting beneath much of the ice shelf is weaker than expected, melting in cracks and crevasses is much faster.

Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the ...

Much of the melting below the ice is happening more slowly than previous estimates have suggested. In the worst-case scenarios, enough melting can cause the ice shelves themselves to thin and eventually disintegrate. This process can push the glacier backward over the bedrock, causing it to retreat inland, pouring more ice into the ocean in the process. Ocean water is able to seep beneath ice shelves and lap up against the edge of the glacier at the grounding line, melting the ice from the bottom up. The two studies specifically report on findings from an initiative known as the MELT project, an effort to understand the way warm ocean waters are driving melting at the glacier’s grounding line. On the one hand, Thwaites may be melting more slowly than previous estimates have suggested.

Antarctica's Thwaites glacier, nicknamed "Doomsday Glacier," isn't melting as fast as feared – but deep fractures in ice are taking the heaviest toll.

Ice draining from Thwaites into the Amundsen Sea already accounts for about 4% of global sea-level rise. A thin layer of fresh melt water, which sits in between the bottom of the ice shelf and the ocean, slows the melting rate for flat parts of the ice shelf, researchers found. "That’s how the glacier is falling apart. "Warm water is getting into the cracks, helping wear down the glacier at its weakest points." It shatters," Schmidt told The Associated Press. [had cracks that wererapidly accelerating](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/12/16/antarctica-glacier-collapse-raise-sea-levels/8924940002/) – and could see the ice shelf shatter within the next five years. But "staircase" like formations and cracks see faster rates of melting, as warm water reaches glacier's most vulnerable areas. [Collapse of Florida-sized glacier may happen soon, raising sea levels and threatening coastal cities](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/12/16/antarctica-glacier-collapse-raise-sea-levels/8924940002/) [one of the studies](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05691-0), stated in NYU's release. [one of the Nature papers](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05586-0), said in a [New York University press release](https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2023/february/scientists-discover-new-processes-driving-retreat-of-thwaites-gl.html) following the research's publication. The melting beneath much of the ice shelf is slower than expected, but melting in crevasses and cracks is much more rapid. ["Doomsday Glacier"](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/09/06/new-antarctica-doomsday-glacier-images/7999206001/) because of its potential to drive alarming [sea level rise](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/01/13/noaa-nasa-release-2022-climate-change-data-disasters-temperatures/11031679002/), isn't melting at a pace as fast as feared – but deep fractures in the ice are taking the heaviest toll, according to new research.

A recent study indicates that there is a growing web of cracks and crevasses within the ice shelf that could trigger a retreat of the glacier.

Thanks to a skinny, torpedo-shaped robot, scientists have been able to better observe the forces eroding Antarctica's Thwaites glacier, aka the 'doomsday ...

A collapse of Thwaites or any of the nearby large glaciers nearby would almost certainly cause measurable sea level rise.

What is new however, is the technology used to gather this data. Much like the changes to our beaches and shorelines, the changes in Antarctica aren't happening overnight, Dr. A collapse of Thwaites or any of the nearby large glaciers nearby would almost certainly cause measurable sea level rise. "Thwaites is in a very precarious position where it's holding back a ton of ice behind it," said Dr. Thwaites is melting faster and faster. Britney Schmidt, one of the lead scientists on this international project, described Thwaites as the canary in the coal mine.

Scientists studying one of the most crucial glaciers that's been deteriorating by climate change got a new look at what's going on underneath the surface.

Schmidt's team of researchers used a robot called Icefin to go underwater and into the glacier through a 600-meter deep borehole created in 2019 by a research drill. "We now have the measurements we need to fine-tune our models." What we have found is that despite small amounts of melting there is still rapid glacier retreat, so it seems that it doesn’t take a lot to push the glacier out of balance," he said in a statement. If the glacier collapses it could add 25 inches to the global sea level rise in the coming centuries, according to researchers. These measurements were compared with melt rate observations taken at five other sites underneath the ice shelf. The images showed researchers that while the glacier overall is melting slower than models projected, the warmer water underneath the ice is creating cracks and crevasses where the ice is melting much faster than the rest of the glacier.

If it collapses, it could bring about a catastrophic rise in sea levels. Scientists say the clock is ticking after unexpected findings at Antarctica's 'doomsday ...

In the ruthless march of global warming, the Thwaites Glacier has been a sort of canary in the coal mine. In other places, the ice was being eroded away at different angles by the rush of ocean, forming staircase-shaped “terraces.” All of it has been contributing to a fractured, shrinking glacier that scientists warn is now more fragile than ever. and British researchers from the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration used a hot water drill to forge a hole nearly 2,000 feet deep into the ice, then sent down a cascade of aquatic robots to swim below the underbelly of the so-called ice shelf—a critical self-fortifying feature of the Thwaites that juts out across the ocean’s surface. If the Thwaites were to disintegrate, scientists estimate it could raise sea levels by more than two feet—enough to submerge parts of coastal cities worldwide, from Tokyo to Dubai to Miami. It’s the deepest understanding yet of how the ocean is swirling beneath one of the planet’s biggest bellwethers of climate change. It’s also known as the “