Scientists have raised the alarm over Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ after a new study revealed that underwater ‘storms’ were increasing the risk of a total collapse
A huge ice sheet known as the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ because of the devastating impact its disappearance could have on human civilisation is on the verge of collapsing.
Cracks in the ice shelf of Thwaite’s Glacier in Antarctica have triggered an ‘accelerated destabilisation’ in recent years, scientists have warned, with a new study now suggesting that storm-like formations hidden under the surface could be speeding up its decline.
Rapid swirling vortexes forming in the layer of water underneath the glacier are pulling in warm sea currents, according to researchers, resulting in melting of the ice sheet above that causes fractures to appear. The melting itself also adds to the turbulence, setting in motion a ‘vicious cycle’ that causes further damage to the glacier.
Scientists writing in the the journal Nature Geoscience said the underwater storms melting the ice shelf from below explain some of the changes in Thwaite’s Glacier, which has lost over 600 billion tonnes of ice since the 1980s.
Warning that this phenomenon is likely to be replicated across the Antarctic as global ocean temperatures continue to heat up, lead author Mattia Poinelli, a glaciologist at University of California, Irvine, told climate organisation Grist: “In the future, where there is going to be more warm water, more melting, we’re going to probably see more of these effects in different areas of Antarctica.”
She said of the vortices: “They look exactly like a storm. They’re strongly energetic, so there is a very vertical and turbulent motion that happens near the surface.”
Thwaites Glacier, located in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is around 75 miles wide, and covers approximately 74,000 square miles – making it roughly the same size as mainland Britain, or the US state of Florida. Among climate experts, it has acquired the nickname “the Doomsday Glacier” due to the impact its collapse would have on global sea levels.
If Thwaites Glacier were to break apart and melt into the surrounding ocean, sea levels would rise between one and two metres, or three and six feet. This would effectively wipe out a host of major metropolises around the world that are home to tens of millions of people, including London, New York, Amsterdam, Bangkok and Mumbai.
Low-lying islands, like the Maldives, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Polynesia, and, Micronesia would meanwhile be wiped off the map. Scientists warned earlier this year that the ice shelf beneath the glacier could collapse within the next decade as it continues to weaken, with satellite data showing an accelerating rate of fractures within the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf since the beginning of the 21st century.
Last year, glaciologist John Moore of Lapland University suggested placing a physical barrier on the seafloor to prevent warm ocean water from further impacting the glacier. His proposal was later criticised in a letter signed by more than 40 researchers, who said efforts should be focused on reducing carbon emissions and slowing global warming.
