The '"doomsday glacier" in the Arctic region, which some scientists believe can contribute to the increasing sea level, may start to collapse soon, even faster than calculated- and if that happens, it will surely be destructive.
According to the newly published study journal in Nature Geoscience, it found that Antarctica's Florida-sized Thwaites glacier, which has been kept under constant observation because of its "collapsing" pattern as it melts into the sea of ice, can soon be entering the "very rapid" retreat as the research team of University of South Florida (USF) describes.
It is alarming news because the early studies found that the Thwaites glacier could break off from the south pole continent and lead to a rising sea level that will drastically affect the world's largest coastal population.
USF press release stated that the potential impact of the doomsday glacier's retreat has a spine-chilling effect, adding that such retreat can lead to a whole loss of the glacier and neighboring icy basins that will instantly raise the sea levels from three feet up to ten.
The British Antarctic Survey marine geophysicist. Robert Larter and the research co-author said they have similar news about the glacier's current status.
Thwaites Early Monitoring Years
"Thwaites is really holding on today by its fingernails," he added in the press release and expressed to the people to see drastic changes over a short time in the future-even. One year up to the next one, the glacier melts beyond a surface ridge in its bed.
The researchers concluded that, as described in the press release notes, it was "risky, it was serendipitous."
A research team way back in 2019 founded its state-of-the-art and independent robotic vehicle, named "Ran," with complete imaging sensors placed in the front of "doomsday."
On its 20-hour journey, that was significant due to the summer seas in front of the Thwaites being uniquely free of sea ice.
Ran mapped the place of the seabed in the facade of the glacier, which is the size of the state of Houston - the first attempt that has successfully accessed the glacier's front.
The scientists found something beautiful at the same time groundbreaking- but also terrifying.
Comparison of Glacial Movements
The international research team found more than 160 similar ridges that served as a sort of "footprint mark" to visualize how the first edge of Thwaites "retreated and bounced up and down with the regular tides" in the past.
In the research analysis, the edges of the glacier led them to the thought that even though the glacier has seen changes in the past centuries, it experienced much greater changes in the past era-which indicates similar changes can possibly occur in the future.
University of South Florida's Alastair Graham said that the pioneering study of the previous scattered concepts of ice sheet said that it moves idly. Still, the recent study claims that the ice moved more frequently and in a more drastic way than their initial thoughts, he also addressed the changes as a piece of bad news, "just a small kick to Thwaites can lead to a big response," Graham stated.
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