A glacier known as ‘the doomsday glacier’ that has the potential to cause sea levels to rise across the planet could be on the verge of collapse, scientists have warned.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) used underwater robots to take new measurements of the Thwaites Glacier, which is the same size as Great Britain or Florida.
The data suggests that the glacier, along with much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could be lost entirely by the 23rd century.
Worryingly, if it collapses entirely, the experts say global sea levels would rise by two feet (65cm) – plunging huge areas underwater.
The Thwaites Glacier is about 74.5 miles (120km) across, making it the widest glacier on earth.
Other studies have shown that the volume of ice flowing into the sea from Thwaites and its neigbouring glaciers has more than doubled from the 1990s to the 2010s.
Furthermore, the wider region, called the Amundsen Sea Embayment, accounts for a staggering eight per cent of the current rate of global sea level rise of 4.6mm/year.
The glacier is up to 13,100 feet (4,000m) thick and is considered key in making projections of global sea level rise.
The glacier is retreating due to the warming of the ocean and is thought to be unstable because its interior lies more than 1.2 miles (two kilometres) below sea level while, at the coast, the bottom of the glacier is quite shallow.
The collapse of the Thwaites Glacier would cause global sea levels to rise by between three and six feet (one to two metres), with the potential for more than twice that from the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
In their new study, the team set out to develop a more reliable prediction on how and when Thwaites will change in the future.
Dr Rob Larter, a marine geophysicist at BAS, said: ‘There is a consensus that Thwaites Glacier retreat will accelerate sometime within the next century.
‘However, there is also concern that additional processes revealed by recent studies, which are not yet well enough studied to be incorporated into large scale models, could cause retreat to accelerate sooner.’
The new study predicts that Thwaites will collapse by the 23rd century at the latest.
‘It’s concerning that the latest computer models predict continuing ice loss that will accelerate through the 22nd century and could lead to a widespread collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the 23rd,’ said Dr Ted Scambos, US science coordinator of the ITGC and glaciologist at the University of Colorado.
Thwaites is ‘exceptionally vulnerable’ because of its position, according to the researchers.
Its ice rests on a bed far below sea level, which slopes downwards towards the heart of West Antarctica.
‘Thwaites has been retreating for more than 80 years, accelerating considerably over the past 30 years, and our findings indicate it is set to retreat further and faster,’ Dr Larter added.
Worryingly, if the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses, it will raise global sea levels by an alarming 10.8ft (3.3 metres).
This would have a devastating effect on the hundreds of millions of people living in coastal areas from Bangladesh to low-lying Pacific islands, from New York to London.
As a result of the findings, the researchers are calling for urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Dr Scambos added: ‘Immediate and sustained climate intervention will have a positive effect, but a delayed one, particularly in moderating the delivery of warm deep ocean water that is the main driver of retreat.’
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