Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier is reportedly melting “rapidly” in unexpected ways, according to new research published Wednesday by Cornell University and the British Antarctic Survey.
Dubbed the “Doomsday Glacier” by scientists because its collapse could lead to a catastrophic rise in sea levels, the Thwaites is about the size of Florida and partly held in place by an ice shelf that protrudes onto the surface of the ocean. The shelf acts as a cork, holding the dense body of ice back on the land.
Two studies published in the journal Nature found that deep cracks and “staircase” formations in the ice are melting at a faster rate due to rising temperatures, though the pace of melting underneath is slower than previously believed.
“Warm water is getting into the weakest parts of the glacier and making it worse,” Cornell University scientist Britney Schmidt, a lead author on one of the papers, told Reuters. “If we observe less melting … that doesn’t change the fact that it’s retreating.”
In 2019, a team of 13 US and British scientists from the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration traveled to the glacier for about six weeks and used mooring data, sensors and an underwater robot vehicle known as Icefin to monitor the glacier.
‘The glacier is still in trouble … 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.’
Peter Davis, an oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey and a lead study author.
They specifically looked at the glacier’s grounding line — where ice slides off and meets the ocean. The torpedo-like Icefin allowed the scientist to garner information about water temperature and salinity, ocean currents, as well as images.
Using observations from a hot-water-drilled access hole, the Icefin was able “swim up to these really dynamic places and take data from the sea floor all the way to the ice,” Schmidt told CNN.
Scientists previously relied on satellite images to look into the nature of the ice, making this new research the first time scientists have been able to see the grounding line where “the action begins.”
Thwaites contributes to about 4% of annual sea level rise due to shedding billions of tons of ice into the ocean, according to researchers. 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.
The collapse of the glacier itself could take hundreds or thousands of years. However, if the ice shelf melts sooner, it could cause a retreat of the glacier which would be both unstable and possibly irreversible.
Researchers found the speed of melting is being slowed down by a layer of colder and fresher water at the glacier’s base.
Meanwhile, “the glacier is still in trouble,” Peter Davis, an oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey and a lead author on the other paper, told CNN. “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.”
The scientists also found an underwater glacial landscape with “staircase” terraces and crevasses that are contributing to the recession of the glacier.
The studies’ authors claim the melting of these cracks “may become the primary trigger for ice shelf collapse.”
The new findings fill in the “missing pieces” to previous studies about the glacier, according to the authors.
A 2021 study said the ice shelf could collapse within the next five years — while scientists said last year Thwaites is hanging on “by its fingernails.”
David Rounce, a glaciologist at Carnegie Mellon University who was not involved in the study, told CNN the new research provides “novel insights into how rapidly the bottom of the ice shelf is melting and the mechanisms by which it’s melting, which are very important for improving our understanding and ability to model how Thwaites will change in the future.”
Davis added that the joint studies could can help make more accurate projections about sea level rise, which can be fed into efforts to mitigate climate change and protect coastal communities.
It also might prompt people “to sit up and take notice of the changes that are occurring,” Davis told the outlet. “Despite it being so remote, the consequences of what happens on Thwaites will impact everybody.”
