Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier” On Edge Of Disaster, says Study. What will happen if it deteriorates?.
This new study has alerted us about the rapid disintegration of one of the biggest glaciers in the world. One of Antarctica’s most important glaciers is holding on “by its fingernails” as warming temperatures around the globe threaten to cause further deterioration, which could then destabilize the glaciers in the entire region. It could raise the sea level by 10 ft.
In a new study, published in Nature Geoscience, they said that a sudden melting event occurred over the course of six months in the last , which caused the Thwaites Glacier to retreat as much as 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometres) per year. That’s twice the rate that scientists have observed in the past decade or so, said the study.International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, in an estimate released in 2020, had said that if the “doomsday glacier” dissolves fully, it will lead to four percent of climate change-caused sea-level rise.
The rate at which the glacier is melting it has potential to devastate many countries easily. Scientists says it’s not just the warming of the oceans, overall, that’s driving the process. Rather, complex systems involving winds and ocean circulation patterns are helping to drive naturally occurring warm water closer to the ice edge. Now, scientists are working to figure out exactly why that’s happening, whether climate change is playing a role, and what might be in store for the future of the world’s biggest ice sheets.
