Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ is on verge of COLLAPSING, research warns

On Sep 20, 2024

Published: 00:05, 20 September 2024 | Updated: 03:29, 20 September 2024

With the potential to cause sea levels across the planet to rise, it’s no wonder the Thwaites Glacier has earned the nickname the ‘Doomsday Glacier.’

Now, scientists have revealed concerning findings about how and when the glacier could collapse.

Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) used underwater robots to take new measurements of the glacier, which is the same size as Great Britain.

The data indicates that the Thwaites Glacier and much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could be lost entirely by the 23rd century.

Worryingly, if it collapses entirely, the experts say global sea levels would rise by two feet (65cm) – plunging huge areas underwater.

With the potential to cause seas across the planet to rise, it’s no wonder the Thwaites Glacier has earned the nickname the ‘Doomsday Glacier’

The Thwaites Glacier is roughly 74.5 miles (120km) across – the same size as Great Britain or Florida – making it the widest glacier on the planet

The Thwaites Glacier is roughly 74.5 miles (120km) across – the same size as Great Britain or Florida.

This makes it the widest glacier on the planet.

In places, it’s over 6,500ft (2,000m) thick – 2.5 times the size of the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building.

Previous studies have shown that the volume of ice flowing into the sea from Thwaites and its neigbouring glaciers has more than doubled from the 1990s to the 2010s.

What’s more, the wider region, called the Amundsen Sea Embayment, accounts for a staggering eight per cent of the current rate of global sea level rise of 4.6mm/year.

The Thwaites Glacier is roughly 74.5 miles (120km) across – the same size as Great Britain or Florida – making it the widest glacier on the planet

Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) used underwater robots to take new measurements of the glacier, which is the same size as Great Britain

The Doomsday Glacier

The Thwaites glacier currently measures 74,131 square miles (192,000 square kilometres) – around the same size as Great Britain.

It is up to 4,000 metres (13,100ft) thick and is considered key in making projections of global sea level rise.

The glacier is retreating in the face of the warming ocean and is thought to be unstable because its interior lies more than two kilometres (1.2 miles) below sea level while, at the coast, the bottom of the glacier is quite shallow.

The collapse of the Thwaites Glacier would cause an increase of global sea level of between one and two metres (three and six feet), with the potential for more than twice that from the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

In their new study, the team set out to develop a more reliable prediction on how and when Thwaites will change in the future.

Dr Rob Larter, a marine geophysicist at BAS, said: ‘There is a consensus that Thwaites Glacier retreat will accelerate sometime within the next century.

‘However, there is also concern that additional processes revealed by recent studies, which are not yet well enough studied to be incorporated into large scale models, could cause retreat to accelerate sooner.’

The new study indicates that Thwaites will collapse by the 23rd century at the latest.

‘It’s concerning that the latest computer models predict continuing ice loss that will accelerate through the 22nd century and could lead to a widespread collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the 23rd,’ said Dr Ted Scambos, US science coordinator of the ITGC and glaciologist at the University of Colorado.

Thwaites is ‘exceptionally vulnerable’ because of its position, according to the researchers.

Its ice rests on a bed far below sea level, which slopes downwards towards the heart of West Antarctica.

‘Thwaites has been retreating for more than 80 years, accelerating considerably over the past 30 years, and our findings indicate it is set to retreat further and faster,’ Dr Larter added.

Worryingly, if the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses, it would raise global sea levels by a whopping 10.8ft (3.3 metres)

Worryingly, if the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses, it will raise global sea levels by a whopping 10.8ft (3.3 metres).

This would have a huge impact on the hundreds of millions of people on coasts from Bangladesh to low-lying Pacific islands, from New York to London.

Based on the findings, the researchers are calling for urgent action to curb greenhouse gas emissions – one of the leading factors leading to Thwaites’ melt.

Dr Scambos added: ‘Immediate and sustained climate intervention will have a positive effect, but a delayed one, particularly in moderating the delivery of warm deep ocean water that is the main driver of retreat.’

GLACIERS AND ICE SHEETS MELTING WOULD HAVE A ‘DRAMATIC IMPACT’ ON GLOBAL SEA LEVELS

Global sea levels could rise as much as 10ft (3 metres) if the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica collapses.

Sea level rises threaten cities from Shanghai to London, to low-lying swathes of Florida or Bangladesh, and to entire nations such as the Maldives.

In the UK, for instance, a rise of 6.7ft (2 metres) or more may cause areas such as Hull, Peterborough, Portsmouth and parts of east London and the Thames Estuary at risk of becoming submerged.

The collapse of the glacier, which could begin with decades, could also submerge major cities such as New York and Sydney.

Parts of New Orleans, Houston and Miami in the south on the US would also be particularly hard hit.

A 2014 study looked by the union of concerned scientists looked at 52 sea level indicators in communities across the US.

It found tidal flooding will dramatically increase in many East and Gulf Coast locations, based on a conservative estimate of predicted sea level increases based on current data.

The results showed that most of these communities will experience a steep increase in the number and severity of tidal flooding events over the coming decades.

By 2030, more than half of the 52 communities studied are projected to experience, on average, at least 24 tidal floods per year in exposed areas, assuming moderate sea level rise projections. Twenty of these communities could see a tripling or more in tidal flooding events.

The mid-Atlantic coast is expected to see some of the greatest increases in flood frequency. Places such as Annapolis, Maryland and Washington, DC can expect more than 150 tidal floods a year, and several locations in New Jersey could see 80 tidal floods or more.

In the UK, a two metre (6.5 ft) rise by 2040 would see large parts of Kent almost completely submerged, according to the results of a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science in November 2016.

Areas on the south coast like Portsmouth, as well as Cambridge and Peterborough would also be heavily affected.

Cities and towns around the Humber estuary, such as Hull, Scunthorpe and Grimsby would also experience intense flooding.