Antarctica's "doomsday glacier" is in trouble as the massive ice shelf is melting. Its collapse could increase the sea level to an alarming level and put Australia at risk of being underwater.
Antarctica Doomsday Glacier
Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, known as the "Doomsday Glacier" due to the disastrous effects of its possible collapse on sea levels, is melting quickly and in ways not predicted by scientists, according to new research.
In late 2019 and early 2020, a group of 13 scientists, coordinated by Cornell University associate professor Britney Schmidt, spent almost two months on the glacier. Using an underwater robot vehicle, they observed the glacier's grounding, the point at which an outlet glacier begins to float over an open body of water as an ice shelf. The behavior of an enormous glacier, previously only observed through satellite photos, has now been reached by a team for the first time.
According to a recent study, the glacier's collapse and a considerable rise in sea levels are threatened by water seeping into its crevasses and other terraces. Indeed, changes in the grounding line can drastically and quickly modify the behavior of glaciers and ice shelves.
Thwaites is the world's widest glacier, measuring around 80 miles across, or the size of Florida. The possible rise in sea level caused by its collapse is more than half a meter (about 1.6 feet). Still, experts are concerned that it may also destabilize nearby glaciers, resulting in an additional three meters (9.8 feet) of rise. "That is the kind of thing we should all be very concerned about," said Schmidt.
Antarctica's temperatures have risen by over 3C over the previous 50 years, according to data from the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the region's glaciers are retreating more quickly. Scientists are becoming concerned about the Antarctic ice sheet's recent behavior since it can potentially raise sea levels by 58 meters (190 feet) over several millennia.
The nation's mass ice losses between 1992 and 2011 contributed to a 4 mm rise in sea level and about 18% of the global sea level rise between 2012 and 2017. An increase in sea level of up to one meter (3.3 feet) might be caused by the melting of Antarctic ice sheets by the end of this century.
Dangers of Melting Doomsday Glacier: Places That Will Be Affected
The glacier naturally blocks large ice lakes behind Thwaites Glacier. These will slide into the sea from the gentle slopes of continental Antarctica with nothing to stop them.
This would result in an extra three-meter increase in water level. The total amount of glaciers and ice caps on Earth is still somewhat unknown, but the US Geological Survey estimates that if they all melted, the sea level would rise by nearly 70 meters. It is impossible to predict when this would occur, but it would inundate every coastal city globally.
This is already a concerning issue for Australia, given that Professor Robert Hill of The University of Adelaide has stated that Adelaide is on course to become a 50-degree city by the end of the century, with coastal communities like Grange underwater.
"Considerable development along the NSW coast is at risk from inundation and erosion as a result of sea level rise," per Climate Central. "Around 80 percent of the NSW population live within 50 km of the coast. The highest risk occurs close to estuaries, where a lot of development has occurred in low-lying areas."
In addition to raising sea levels, melting glaciers in the Antarctic might cause a major biodiversity loss since the ice pack supports thousands of animal species.
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