Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Scientists looked deep beneath the Doomsday Glacier. What they found
spells potential disaster for the planet
Located east of Mount Murphy, Thwaites Glacier is a broad and vast
Antarctic glacier. The Florida-sized, 1,000-meter-deep glacier is often described
as part of the weak underbelly of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet because of its
vulnerability to irreversible retreat and collapse even under relatively little
warming. It is also dubbed the “Doomsday Glacier” and has been closely
monitored because of its potential impact on global sea level rise. For now,
the outflow from the glacier accounts for 4% of global sea level rise, but if
the melting accelerates further, it could increase sea levels by over 60 cm.
Once that happens, the vast Antarctic ice sheet the glacier has been holding would
collapse and raise sea levels by meters. Recently, scientists used underwater
robots to study how fast the Doomsday Glacier is melting and when it might
collapse. They found that the retreat of the glacier has accelerated for the
last three decades and ice loss is speeding up. Has the world already passed
the tipping point?
Read the article and learn about the status and potential impact of the
vast glacier in Antarctica.
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