Antarctica's 'Doomsday Glacier' Holding on by it's 'Fingernails,' According to New Study
Link to tweet
https://www.thedailybeast.com/antarcticas-doomsday-glacier-holding-on-by-its-fingernails-according-to-new-study
Antarctica’s “doomsday glacier” is “retreating”—or collapsing—at a rate that has stunned scientists to the point they claim the potential impact is “spine-chilling”. Scientists have been studying the Thwaites Glacier, which is approximately the size of Florida, in order to predict the impact of global sea rise levels. In a study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers said the giant berg is holding on “by its fingernails” and warned sea levels could raise from three to 10 feet if it collapsed. “Our results suggest that pulses of very rapid retreat have occurred at Thwaites Glacier in the last two centuries, and possibly as recently as the mid-20th Century,” wrote the study’s lead author, marine geophysicist Alastair Graham at the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science. Scientists studied the glacier’s historical retreat in an effort to understand the impacts that will affect the future, and what they found is scary stuff. “Thwaites is really holding on today by its fingernails, and we should expect to see big changes over small timescales in the future-even from one year to the next-once the glacier retreats beyond a shallow ridge in its bed," marine geophysicist and study co-author Robert Larter from the British Antarctic Survey said.
Study
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220905113008.htm
The Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica -- about the size of Florida -- has been an elephant in the room for scientists trying to make global sea level rise predictions.
This massive ice stream is already in a phase of fast retreat (a "collapse" when viewed on geological timescales) leading to widespread concern about exactly how much, or how fast, it may give up its ice to the ocean.
The potential impact of Thwaites' retreat is spine-chilling: a total loss of the glacier and surrounding icy basins could raise sea level from three to 10 feet.
A new study in Nature Geoscience led by marine geophysicist Alastair Graham at the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science adds cause for concern. For the first time, scientists mapped in high-resolution a critical area of the seafloor in front of the glacier that gives them a window into how fast Thwaites retreated and moved in the past.
The stunning imagery shows geologic features that are new to science, and also provides a kind of crystal ball to see into Thwaites' future. In people and ice sheets alike, past behavior is key to understanding future behavior.
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But--Party on, dudes!
other than a passing mention during the weather on local news, i avoid it
because i just can't handle it anymore.
it is just so disturbing to me--and so absolutely heartbreaking. it was a huge deal for me (still is) for the past 30, 40? years and after all that time look where we are today. it kills me and at the same time it infuriates me as to how little has been done to prevent this nightmare
i read this article. thank you for posting it.
..almost everywhere except on rightwing sites, I'm sure.
It was less 10yrs ago that a DUer accuse me of being hyperbolic on global warming.
Just got news the other day that a very sweet, much younger friend of mine (one of my son's ex-g.f.'s) is expecting a baby. I could not bring myself to congratulate her. She's a Republican and totally ignorant of the total hell that is coming.
Most folks just want to cover their eyes and ears and pretend that the future is going to continue being the same and that we all will be safe.
As a friend said, "Well, scientists will figure something out."
I wanted to scream at her, "Nitwit, IT IS the scientists who are telling us that we're doomed unless WE change."
Countries around the world should adopt the one child rule, as China has.
