The gigantic Thwaites glacier covers 293,000sq kms — about half the area of the United Kingdom. Here’s the take-home message from this month’s original video by independent videographer Peter Sinclair for Yale Climate Connections: Let’s hope Thwaites in Antarctica waits. A file photo of the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, known as the 'Doomsday Glacier'. The red dot shows the approximate location of the Nathaniel B. Palmer research vessel each day. Along the 150-kilometer ice front, the satellite images show two different types of ice shelves. Scientists predict its ice sheet may break off, increasing sea levels. The craggy face of Thwaites loomed a few hundred feet away, but seemed almost close enough to touch, or at least within shouting distance. Scientists may just have identified Thwaites Glacier's Achilles heel. ; Thwaites Glacier is closely watched for its potential to raise sea levels. Thwaites Glacier is roughly the size of UK (176 x10 3 km 2). It covers an area of 192,000 sqkm — in comparison, Tasmania is 68,401 sqkm and Victoria is 227,444 sqkm. Antarctica with/without ice. A large area of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet flows to the ocean via Thwaites Glacier, which extends over 192,000 sq kms (74,000 sq miles), an area the size of Florida or the island of Britain. Thwaites Glacier is located on the Western border of the Antarctic continent. The grounding line is where the glacier transitions from resting on the bedrock to a floating ice shelf in the Amundsen Sea. The Thwaites Glacier is one of the most dangerous glaciers in the world, and scientists are eager to travel to Antarctica to study it. By Peter Sinclair | Friday, November 20, 2020. Runaway sea-level rise resulting from retreat of Antarctica's Thwaites glacier depends on humans' substantially cutting GHG emissions. Thwaites Glacier. New seafloor maps reveal the first clear view of a system of channels that may be helping to hasten the demise of West Antarctica’s vulnerable Thwaites Glacier. It is predicted that it will gradually melt, leading to an irreversible collapse over the next 200 to … … Posted February 06, 2019 14:39:25 The Thwaites Glacier is currently responsible for about 4 per cent of global sea level rise. The Thwaites has moved … Thwaites Glacier is an important area of study for scientists as it is particularly susceptible to climate and ocean changes. The location of the line is a pointer to the rate of retreat of a glacier. Close Before/after view. … This is the last in a series of deep dives into the science and people of the Nathaniel B. Palmer’s 2019 voyage to Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. The strong correlation of abnormal ice sheet melting with the location of the Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers and underlying Marie Byrd Mantle Plume is undeniable. Pine Island and Thwaites Glacier have retrograde beds below sea level which makes them prone to marine ice sheet instability . Simplified grounding line image of an ice sheet. It once held 14 billion tons of ice. The Thwaites Glacier also slows the melting of other glaciers, which could raise sea levels an additional 8 feet if they melted. Nilas ice; Posts: 1414; Liked: 504; Likes Given: 243 ; Re: Thwaites Glacier Discussion « Reply #280 on: May 18, 2020, 06:34:30 PM » I want to remind you about my posting … Thwaites Glacier today is rapidly losing mass in response to changing atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Thwaites Glacier: Location: Antarctica: Detailed Location : Dotson Ice Shelf: Location: Antarctica: Detailed Location : Crosson Ice Sheld: Top. If it collapsed completely it could raise sea levels by 60cm. Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. (NASA) "I think this is a big step towards helping understand that," he added. From: Huybrechts et al., 2009. Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier in the Amundsen Sea Embayment are among the fastest changing outlet glaciers in West Antarctica with large consequences for global sea level. Thwaites Glacier Mass Balance . Thwaites glacier in Antarctica might be past the point of no return. Thwaites Glacier is a vast brick of ice flowing into Pine Island Bay in western Antarctica. Teams were due to head back to the glacier this austral summer, but the location’s remoteness means the risks are too great should anyone fall ill. Once the coronavirus outbreak has been properly contained, the scientists will return, however. Instrumentation. Along with Pine Island Glacier, Thwaites Glacier has been described as part of the "weak underbelly" of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Sensor(s): ACCELEROMETERS; GPS > Global Positioning System; GRAVIMETERS; LRGM > Lacoste-Romberg Gravity Meter; Data Collection: Data was collected using the BAS twin otter VP-FBL, equipped for aerogeophysical surveys. Thwaites Glacier is a vast brick of ice flowing into Pine Island Bay in western Antarctica. “It’s amazing to go to a place like Thwaites to see the changes taking place right before your eyes,” said Dr Hogan. It’s thought that a sea level rise of 60cm would swamp coastal towns and cities around the world. Over the past 30 years, the amount of ice flowing out of the region has nearly doubled, and computer models show that over the next several decades, the glacier may lose ice even more rapidly. Because of its size (1.9 lakh square km), it contains enough water to raise the world sea level by more than half a meter. Prof Richard Alley Richard Alley is a geologist who investigates the relationship between the Earth’s cryosphere — where water is present in solid form at the surface — and climate change. The massive Thwaites Glacier slides down from the West Antarctic ice sheet into the Amundsen Sea, which part of the glacier floats over. The location of the line is a pointer to the rate of retreat of a glacier. It makes a retreat of the grounding line. Under the huge Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is an unexpected, enormous cavern. But if Thwaites melts enough that it lifts off, the ice sheet will be exposed, too. Thwaites Glacier covers 74,000 square miles—an area the size of Florida—and is particularly susceptible to climate and ocean changes. Thwaites Glacier, roughly the size of Florida, is melting at an increasingly fast rate. ... That’s more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than that location’s freezing point owing the chemistry of saltier water. The glacier terminus is nearly 120 km wide, and the bed of the glacier reaches to >1000 m below sea level. That exposes more of a glacier’s underside to seawater, increasing the likelihood it will melt faster. Thwaites Glacier ice shelf extends about 15 kilometers beyond the grounding line. Thwaites Glacier is nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier because of the deadly impact its melting could have on our planet. So long as Thwaites connects with the earth beneath it, the glacier will block warm waters from creeping up to the broader, thicker ice — the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet — sitting behind it. Goto first page. “Thwaites is a terrifying glacier,” Anandakrishnan says simply. It is also one of the most rapidly changing glaciers in Antarctica. Thwaites Glacier sometimes referred to as the Doomsday Glacier, is an unusually broad and fast Antarctic glacier flowing into Pine Island Bay. Figure 1: Map showing the location of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, as well as the main geographic focus of the 8 projects involved in the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC). Although, those small icebergs had been grounded to the South before being pushed into their current location by the movement of B22-A so that spot may not be shallower than any other nearby location. If you took off in an airplane from El Paso, Texas and flew due south — across about 590 miles (950 kilometers) of western Mexico and 5,700 miles (9,200 km) of Pacific Ocean — you’d see it out your window as a white expanse with sheer cliffs where it meets open water. Thwaites was nearly seven stories high here, at its eastern edge, and the bluish cliff glowed against the grayscale sky.It was snowing, and foggy, and the glacier appeared like something out of this world. Thwaites Glacier, also known as the "doomsday glacier", is reported to be melting quicker than previously thought - scientists are now trying to find out why. Below is a schematic figure of an ice shelf and a grounding line. Read all of the reporting from the eight-week expedition. When glaciers melt and lose weight, they float off the land where they used to be situated. Its melt already accounts for about 4% of global sea rise, Georgia Tech reported. The ice shelf is thinning rapidly and the grounding line is retreating. Nature 458, 295-296. The International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration is making rapid progress, but the glacier is also changing rapidly, posing problems for communications about risk. The eastern ice shelf looks like a large solid piece of ice. Such increases threaten flooding in coastal cities around the world, including the East Coast of the United States. Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier together account for 3% of grounded ice-sheet area, but they receive 7% of Antarctica’s snowfall 1. Its melting accounts for 4 percent of global sea-level rise. Watch the video. Credit: ITGC website. Logged Stephan. It could raise sea levels ( NASA ) `` I think this is vast. Km wide, and the bed of the Nathaniel B. Palmer research each! 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