If you’re going to do something, why not do it now? Geologists say a glacier dubbed “Doomsday” in Antarctica is about to melt to a tipping point.
“Tipping points”, the term for this tipping point means that if a glacier melts beyond that threshold, it will trigger an unstoppable chain of meltdowns. As a result, the entire West Antarctic ice sheet will pour into the ocean, raising sea levels by meters and submerging many coastal cities.
“Our coastline today, by then, will be no different from space.”, said Robert DeConto, a glaciologist at the University of Massachusetts. “It will be a global change.”
Apparently, there’s a reason people nicknamed this glacier “Doomsday”.
Thwaites Glacier is an Antarctic ice shelf roughly the size of all of northern Vietnam. And it’s melting to the tipping point.
The glacier we are talking about is called Thwaites Glacier. It is an area in Antarctica covering an area of 190,000 square kilometers, roughly the size of the whole of northern Vietnam. Scientists are interested in this ice shelf because it contributes up to 4% of the total sea level rise worldwide each year.
What’s more, ocean warming is eroding the base of this ice shelf, putting it at risk of losing all of its foundation to the Antarctic continent between now and the end of the century.
The events that happened to Thwaites Glacier could then trigger an epic catastrophe for humanity. Therefore, scientists are actively racing to write the final chapters marking that chronic event.
Most recently, in a report at the annual conference of the American Geophysical Union, researchers at the University of Oregon warned that the collapse of Thwaites Glacier could come sooner than we expect.
A field survey at the Thwaites Ice Shelf.
Satellite data and geological surveys show that parts of the Thwaites Glacier are disappearing at a rate of 2 kilometers per year. “If you stand on this iceberg and look away, the horizon you see is getting closer by a mile a year“, said Ted Scambos, a senior research fellow at the US Collaborative Institute for Environmental Sciences.
The latest survey also shows that warm water has penetrated deep below the glacier bed. The corrosion of the water has created large cracks. Lizzy Clyne, a researcher at Lewis & Clark University, said there is a special area on the Thwaites that once attached it to the bedrock but has now turned into a giant cavity.
Warm sea water seeps into the ice in the heart of Thwaites, meaning its foundation is getting weaker and weaker. This can lead to fractures and increase the number of cracks appearing.
It could eventually cause entire ice shelves to collapse. And the fall of the Thwaites not only caused the disappearance of itself, but also the collapse of the surrounding areas. That’s why this glacier is called “doomsday”.
Warm ocean water is eroding into the apocalyptic ice shelf.
Erin Pettit, a glaciologist at the University of Oregon, chose one of the most likely areas east of the Thwaites Glacier to study. For years, Pettit said it was boring work because almost nothing happened in this part of Antarctica.
But the latest satellite image startled Pettit when he discovered a crack in it. She likens it to a crack in the front windshield of a car. It looks harmless at first, but the crack will spread and eventually cause the glass to shatter.
“This eastern ice shelf is in danger of breaking into hundreds of pieces.”, said Pettit. “That collapse could come in an instant.”
But while you can replace the windshield of your car, there isn’t a single repair service that will replace the nearly 20,000 square kilometers of Antarctic ice.
If it empties into the ocean, the Thwaites Glacier could trigger a domino chain of both the ice shelf and the great western Antarctic ice cliffs. This would cause global sea levels to rise 3 meters and put the whole world on a dangerous trajectory.
Our generation will be the ones to witness and bear the heavy impacts of the melting Antarctic ice.
The big question now is how much time is left? Scambos said things are moving very quickly in Antarctica. It is possible that the Thwaites Glacier will cross its tipping point in about three to five years.
“In less than a decade, we will see a dramatic change to the front of this glacier. When that happens, the fast-flowing portion of the Thwaites may widen because the bracing system to the east may have disappeared. Further processes will occur within a few decades“, Scambos said.
That’s obviously bad news for the world to begin to worry about. Thwaites could be the next big event to pop up in textbooks of geological history. It will be our generation who will have to witness it and bear its devastating effects.
See Gizmodo, Washingtonpost
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