Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    Menu
    Natural Sciences
    Health
    History & Humanities
    Space & Astronomy
    Technology
    Culture
    Resources
    Natural Sciences

    Physics

    • Matter and Energy
    • Quantum Mechanics
    • Thermodynamics

    Chemistry

    • Periodic Table
    • Applied Chemistry
    • Materials
    • Physical Chemistry

    Biology

    • Anatomy
    • Biochemistry
    • Ecology
    • Genetics
    • Microbiology
    • Plants and Fungi

    Geology and Paleontology

    • Planet Earth
    • Earth Dynamics
    • Rocks and Minerals
    • Volcanoes
    • Dinosaurs
    • Fossils

    Animals

    • Mammals
    • Birds
    • Fish
    • Reptiles
    • Amphibians
    • Invertebrates
    • Pets
    • Conservation
    • Animals Facts

    Climate and Weather

    • Climate Change
    • Weather and Atmosphere

    Geography

    Mathematics

    Health
    • Drugs
    • Diseases and Conditions
    • Human Body
    • Mind and Brain
    • Food and Nutrition
    • Wellness
    History & Humanities
    • Anthropology
    • Archaeology
    • Economics
    • History
    • People
    • Sociology
    Space & Astronomy
    • The Solar System
    • The Sun
    • The Moon
    • Planets
    • Asteroids, Meteors and Comets
    • Astronomy
    • Astrophysics
    • Cosmology
    • Exoplanets and Alien Life
    • Spaceflight and Exploration
    Technology
    • Computer Science & IT
    • Engineering
    • Inventions
    • Sustainability
    • Renewable Energy
    • Green Living
    Culture
    • Culture and Society
    • Bizarre Stories
    • Lifestyle
    • Art and Music
    • Gaming
    • Books
    • Movies and Shows
    Resources
    • How To
    • Science Careers
    • Metascience
    • Fringe Science
    • Science Experiments
    • School and Study
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Science

Antarctica’s doomsday glacier could thaw even faster than previously thought

It's an unusually broad and vast Antarctic glacier flowing into Pine Island Bay

Fermin Koop by Fermin Koop
September 7, 2022
in Climate, Environment, News, Science

The Thwaites Glacier, also known as the “doomsday glacier” due to its high risk of collapse and threat to global sea level rise, is holding on “by its fingernails,” scientists report in a new study. They deployed an advanced robotic submarine to gain new insights into the glacier — and found some bad news.

Rán, a Kongsberg HUGIN autonomous underwater vehicle, amongst sea ice in front of Thwaites Glacier, after a 20-hour mission mapping the seafloor. Credit: Anna Wåhlin/University of Gothenburg.

The glacier is about the size of Florida, and it’s in trouble. All ice on Earth is threatened by climate change, but Thwaites is even more problematic because its underwater base is also being eroded. Its melt rate is accelerating, with its outflow speed doubling in the last 30 years and some studies suggesting it could be just a few years away from collapse. Now, scientists have mapped its historical retreat, trying to anticipate what will happen to the glacier in the future — and how this will affect the world.

The researchers found that at some point in the past two centuries the base of the glacier was freed from the seabed and retreated at a rate of 2.1 kilometers (1.3 miles) per year. That’s twice the rate that scientists have seen in the past decade, suggesting that Thwaites could experience a fast retreat in the near future, they argued in the study.

“Thwaites is really holding on today by its fingernails, and we should expect to see big changes over small timescales in the future – even from one year to the next – once the glacier retreats beyond a shallow ridge in its bed,” marine geophysicist and study co-author, Robert Larter, from the British Antarctic Survey, said in a statement.

A map of the glacier’s seafloor

For the first time, the researchers mapped in high-resolution a critical area of the seafloor in front of the glacier, giving them a window into how Thwaites moved in the past. The imager shows geological features that were previously unknown and offers a sort of crystal ball that can help us predict Thwaites’ future.

A 3D-rendered view of the seafloor colored by depth. Image credit: Alastair Graham/University of South Florida.

The researchers documented over 160 parallel ridges that were created as the glacier’s edge retreated and went up and down with the daily tides. To collect the imagery, the team launched a state-of-the-art robotic vehicle called Rán loaded with imaging sensors during an expedition in 2019. Rán embarked on a 20-hour mission to map the seabed and produced images of never-before-seen features of the glacier.

“This was a pioneering study of the ocean floor, made possible by recent technological advancements in autonomous ocean mapping,” Anna Wåhlin, an oceanographer who deployed Rán, said in a statement. “The images Ran collected to give us vital insights into the processes happening at the critical junction between the glacier and the ocean today.”

The researchers matched the ridge formations with tidal cycles and found each of these ribs was likely formed every day. This enabled us to draw conclusions about the date of the retreat, estimating that at some point in the last 200 years Thwaites retreated at a rate of about 2.1 km – twice the retreat measured by satellites between 2011 and 2019.

Alastair Graham, the lead researcher from the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science, said that while this was a “once in a lifetime mission,” he hoped to return soon to gather samples from the seabed. This could determine when the previous rapid retreats happened, helping scientists to predict future changes in more detail.

The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Was this helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
Related posts:
  1. Huge Antarctica Glacier might melt much faster than previously believed
  2. “Doomsday glacier” in Antarctica could break up in three years
  3. Climate change is causing sea levels to rise faster than previously thought
  4. The world’s largest ecosystems could collapse in decades — much faster than previously thought
  5. Meet Icefin, the torpedo robot that studies the Doomsday Glacier from down below

ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • More
  • About Us

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t you want to get smarter every day?

YES, sign me up!

Over 35,000 subscribers can’t be wrong. Don’t worry, we never spam. By signing up you agree to our privacy policy.

✕
ZME Science News

FREE
VIEW