If the Thwaites glacier collapses in western Antarctica, the sea level can rise 65 centimeters. And according to scientists, the ice mass with the hair-raising nickname Doomsday Glacier is becoming increasingly unstable.
The researchers were able to study the bottom of the glacier for the first time when the sea around it was free of ice. The robot submarine International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration discovered that warm water from three directions rolled deep from the ocean and came together under the glacier.
“It is as if three guns are aimed at the Thwaites Glacier,” said glacologist Erin Pettit of Oregon State University. “The hot water comes from all sides.” This water can further destabilize the glacier. The glacier, the size of the United Kingdom, functions as a kind of cork. If it breaks down, it can carry part of the western ice sheet of Antarctica with it, which means that the sea level may eventually rise 65 centimeters.
The warm water threatens to destabilize the much more stable east side of the glacier. That melted so far much less quickly than the west side, but according to Pettit, this research makes clear that the glacier does not melt evenly. At the bottom there appears to be a complex landscape of canals, cliffs and ridges that has been created by the warm water. Further research is needed to show how this will develop.
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