Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Could Be Gone by 23rd Century

The so-called “Doomsday Glacier” in Antarctica could disappear entirely in less than two centuries. That’s one of the terrifying conclusions reached by a team of American and British scientists, who have spent the past six years studying the massive ice mass.

Although it’s not the largest glacier in the world by total area, Thwaites Glacier is the widest, measuring 75 miles (120 kilometers) across. The glacier has an area of ​​74,000 square miles (192,000 square kilometers), is larger than Florida and is more than 6,500 feet (2,000 meters) thick in places. Because it’s so massive, the glacier holds a lot of water. Thwaites’ melting already accounts for 4 percent of global sea level rise, and if it collapses, it will only make the problem worse. Leads To another height of more than two feet (65 centimeters). That would be catastrophic, and it now appears to be on track to happen by the 23rd century, according to new data.

The glacier has been the subject of study by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration since 2018. Earlier this week, researchers presented their observations at a meeting of the British Antarctic Survey. The glacier was first discovered in 1940 and has been steadily shrinking ever since, a trend the team says will only accelerate.

“The Thwaites River has been in retreat for more than 80 years, and has accelerated dramatically over the past 30 years, and our results suggest it is set to retreat even more rapidly,” Rob Larter, a marine geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told a news conference. Launches“There is a consensus that Thwaites Glacier retreat will accelerate sometime over the next century. However, there are also concerns that additional processes revealed by recent studies, which have not been studied well enough to be incorporated into large-scale models, could cause the retreat to accelerate sooner.”

The effects of a collapsed Thwaites River would be dire. One recent estimate predicted that sea levels on the U.S. coast could rise by as much as 18 inches (46 centimeters) by 2050. That would lead to catastrophic flooding, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The situation could get worse even faster if the Thwaites River continues to shrink.

There has been little room for optimism in recent years. In 2022, another study examined underwater ridges beneath the glacier and found that at one point it was moving at nearly twice its current rate. That’s worrying news, as scientists fear it could accelerate again, potentially destabilizing the fragile situation.

Previous research by the International Glaciology Institute has shown that while Thwaites is melting more slowly than some models predicted, some of this deterioration is occurring in cracks at weak points within the ice structure, increasing the risk of collapse.

While this is certainly worrying, IPCC scientists say that cutting global emissions would have a positive impact. Unfortunately, this will take some time to show up, as much of the melting is driven by warming deep ocean waters, which will take some time to cool down again, even if emissions are reduced to zero.

Overall, the data is disappointing. We would normally add a brief note to conclude the article, but this seems inappropriate. We just hope we didn’t spoil your Friday.