Rapid retreat of the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica Threatens sea level rise of several feet

One new research published today in the magazine Natural Geosciences suggests that Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, which is eroding along its underwater base as the Earth warms, could rapidly retreat in the near future. The collapse of the so-called “doomsday glacier”—larger than the state of Florida—has the potential to rise several feet above global sea level. However, Thwaites is only a small part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which, according to NASA, contains enough water to raise sea levels by up to 16 feet.

Analyzing the glacier’s historic retreat, the study’s authors found that the bottom of the glacier broke away from the seafloor and receded at a rate of 1.3 miles per year — at some point in the last 200 years, possibly as recently as the mid-20th century. The current rate of retreat is half that, but the finding indicates that a similar rapid retreat could occur in the coming years, with disastrous consequences.

“Thwaites is really gripping today with its fingernails and we should expect to see big changes at small intervals in the future — even from year to year,” said Robert Larter. another — once the glacier retreats from a shallow ridge on its bed,” said Robert Larter, a marine geophysicist and one of the study’s co-authors from the British Antarctic Survey, in a newsletter.

While scientists have been interested in the Thwaites Glacier since the 1970s, more recent studies have focused on the Thwaites Ice Shelf, which keeps the ice from flowing freely into the ocean. A 2021 study indicates that racks can break within 5 years. Both studies argue that the idea that change is happening slowly in Antarctica is false.

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