Satellite images recently revealed that a glacier that sits on an ice shelf is susceptible to failure because of a newly-discovered fissure on its surface and a crack across the entire shelf.
A CNBC report specified that during an American Geophysical Union meeting Monday, scientists warned that the ice shelf that's holding a critical glacier in Antarctica could break "within the next five years."
Essentially, the Thwaites Glacier is a Florida-sized sheet that has been responsible already for roughly four percent of yearly sea level rise as it melts slowly into the ocean.
Hotter temperatures, fueled partly by climate change caused by humans, are eroding, wearing away the eastern ice shelf.
The scientists explained, if the shelf breaks apart, the contribution of the glacier to a sea-level rise could ultimately increase by as much as 25 percent.
Shelf to Break in Just 5 Years
As specified in the paper published in AGU, the loss of ice in the Antarctic has been growing worse in recent years. A new study suggests that a dangerous amount of sea level will take place if global warming reaches roughly three degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This planet has already gone beyond one degree Celsius of warming.
In addition, the cracks in the Antarctic ice shelf are the same as those in a car windshield, where a gradually growing crack shows that the windshield is weak, and a slight bump into the vehicle could prompt the windshield to abruptly break apart into hundreds of pieces of glass, explained glaciologist Erin Pettit from Oregon State University.
During the meeting, the researchers said they had targeted the shelf's both strong and weak parts. As a result, they concluded that the cracks "will take a zig-zag" pathway through the ice and eventually result in breakage of the shelf in just five years.
Worldwide sea levels will rise from two to six feet by 2100 on the present trajectory, drawn primarily by melting in Greenland and Antarctica, NASA satellite data showed. Nevertheless, scientists have warned, projections underestimate the effect of climate on the rise of sea level.
Warmer Ocean Water Circulating Underneath the Ice Shelf
A report from the Independent via Yahoo! News said that warmer ocean water that circulates underneath the ice shelf "is attacking the glacier from all angles," researchers found.
The water melts the ice directly from below, and as it does so, the glacier loses its grip on the underwater mountain.
Immense fractures are found to have formed and grown, too, fast-tracking its demise, explained Pettit. The Twaites Glacier's floating extension will possibly survive just a few more years.
The most drastic indication of looming failure is a set of diagonal fractures that almost span the whole shelf, a report on the Science journal website specified.
According to a physical oceanographer, Peter Davis, from the British Antarctic Survey, warm water is a threat as well, for the so-called "grounding zone," a site where the glacier is lifting off the seabed.
Relate information about the melting ice shelf is shown on NBC News's YouTube video below:
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