Antarctica's 'Doomsday Glacier' Melting Rapidly; Can It Collapse In 200 Years? | Scientists Concerned

Adding to the concerns over irreversible impacts of climate change, scientists have found the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica is melting at an unprecedented rate which is an indicator of the catastrophic effects of global sea level rise in the not-so-far future.

This time, the group of scientists who formed the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), study Thwaites using ice-breaking ships and underwater robots to get further details on the glacial retreat.

Coming up with the clearest picture of the transitioning glacier, scientists in the latest report said the situation is "grim", as they found the glacial retreat has accelerated considerably over the past 30 years and rapid ice loss is expected to speed up this century. Furthermore, the scientists also predicted that the Antarctic Ice Sheet could collapse within 200 years, which would have devastating consequences.

“Our findings indicate it is set to retreat further and faster", said Rob Larter, a marine geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey and part of the ITGC team

Research so far also suggests that the Thwaites ice shelves collapse will leave several other towering cliffs of ice exposed to the ocean making them even more unstable. These tall cliffs could easily become unstable and more susceptible to tumbling into the ocean, exposing yet taller cliffs behind them.

However, scientists of the ITGC project said far more research is still needed to understand the future of the complex glacier.

Thwaites: The 'Florida-sized Doomsday Glacier'

The widely known Florida-sized Thwaites, which is often dubbed as 'Doomsday Glacier', has room for enough water to elevate the sea levels by more than 2 feet. However, the enormous glacier is holding back vast Antarctic ice sheet, the collapse of the mammoth structure is likely to increase the sea level by 10 feet.

What makes the glacier more susceptible to melting down is kits geographical position. The land on which it sits slopes downwards, making it even more exposed to relatively warm ocean water.

'Icefin' and other experiments

According to the scientists, the ITGC team sent a torpedo-shaped robot called Icefin to the glacier's grounding line, the point at which the ice rises up from the seabed and starts to float.

The images beamed back by ITGC suggested that the glacier is melting in an unprecedented rate, with warm ocean water able to funnel through deep cracks and “staircase” formations in the ice.

Furthermore, a different study used satellite and GPS data to track the impacts of the tides. The data suggested that the warm seawater was able to push more than 6 miles beneath Thwaites, squeezing warm water under the ice leading to rapid melting.