Antarctica's Doomsday Glacier could lose its ice shelf this year

Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica covers an area comparable to Great Britain and could raise global sea levels by about 65 centimetres if it collapses completely. Its Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (TEIS) acts as a floating buttress that slows ice flow into the sea. The TEIS is over 350 metres thick and spans about 1,500 square kilometres. Warming ocean water is thinning the shelf from below, weakening its structure. Researchers warn the shelf’s breakup is very likely to occur sometime this year, though full glacier collapse is not considered imminent. Drilling and satellite observations show warming water beneath the ice, increasing fault formation, and fissures developing along the grounding line where the shelf meets bedrock.

"The Thwaites Glacier is one of the largest glaciers in the world, covering an area equal to that of Great Britain. If it were to collapse completely, it has the potential to raise sea levels by a staggering 26 inches (65 centimetres) and wreak havoc on the world's coastal regions."

"The Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (TEIS) is a wall of ice attached to the glacier's eastern flank, holding back the flow of ice into the sea. This supporting barrier is over 1,150 feet (350 metres) thick and covers 580 square miles (1,500 square kilometres) - about the area of Greater London."

"Dr Robert Larter, marine geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey, warns that the shelf's breakup is 'very likely to happen sometime this year'. While scientists don't think the collapse of the entire Thwaites Glacier is imminent, multiple studies now suggest that the TEIS is on the brink of failure."

"Speaking in an interview with Live Science, Dr Larter says: 'The last bit of ice shelf in front of the glacier is poised to disintegrate. 'We don't know quite how this ice shelf is going to break up, but it's definitely going to go.' The main reason for this dramatic transformation is that the ice shelf is thinning from below as warm water flows beneath the ice."

Read at Mail Online