“The apocalyptic glacier” could collapse within a few years… “Keep on your toes” | Business Insider Japan

• Thwaites Glacier, dubbed the “terminal glacier”, may be melting earlier than expected, according to new research.
• The glacier serves as a protector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and researchers are watching it closely.
• A new survey of the sea floor reveals that the ice is melting much faster than previously thought.

Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, dubbed the “doomsday” glacier, is melting much faster than previously thought and is “holding on its nails”, according to a new study.

When the Thwaites Glacier, which is about the size of Florida, melts, sea levels riseUp to about 60 cm in heightThere is said to be a possibility of doing so. The glacier sits between the largest ice cap in West Antarctica and a warming ocean.acting as a bufferHence its sinister nickname.

But run by the University of South Florida (USF)new searchreveals that the Thwaites Glacier has been melting at a much faster rate in recent centuries than has been observed in recent years. This means that future glacier retreat could be as rapid as it was then.

This is revealed by the first mapping of the ocean floor under glaciers using underwater drones.

According to the press release, the mapped ridges are “like footprints” that show where the base of the glacier once was, and at some point in the past 200 years the glacier was moving twice as fast as it was. which has been observed in recent years. that it was contracting.

“Thwaites is really at his fingertips right now. Further retreat of glaciers from shallow ridges on the seabed could cause significant changes on timescales as short as a year or two,” the co – author of the study, Dr. Robert Larter. , marine geophysicist at the British Antarctic Observatory.