Scientists have issued new warnings about a glacier in Antarctica that is described as “the glacier at the end of the world” because its collapse could lead to a rapid rise in sea level.
Even now, the ice that drains from the Thwaites Glacier into the Amundsen Sea accounts for about 4% of global sea level rise, but scientists fear it may collapse.
If it collapses, it could raise the sea level by about 65 cm as it melts, and it could also trigger a runaway collapse in the western half of Antarctica that could lead to a sea level rise of up to 6 feet, the people said. scientists to the Financial Times.
Such an increase would be catastrophic for coastal cities around the world.
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Paul Cutler, director of the Antarctic Glaciology Program at the National Science Foundation of the United States, said: “It is a cornerstone for the other glaciers around it in West Antarctica. . . If you remove it, other ice will also potentially begin to drain into the ocean. ”
Cutler said that Thwaites Glacier is losing ice faster and faster, and that the process appears to be accelerating.
“The big question is how fast does it become unstable,” he said. “It seems to be teetering on the edge.”
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Teams of scientists are drilling into the Thwaites Glacier to find out if it is about to collapse.
The glacier is 74,000 square miles, the size of Great Britain, and is believed to be particularly susceptible to climate change.
In the past 30 years, the amount of ice flowing from Thwaites and its neighboring glaciers has almost doubled.
Rob Larter, UK principal investigator for the Thwaites Glacier Project at the British Antarctic Survey, told the FT: “It is the most vulnerable place in Antarctica.”
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The researchers say the South Pole, the most remote place on the planet, has warmed up three times faster than other areas in the past three decades.
Research published in Nature Climate Change found that a sharp change has caused temperatures to rise at the pole since 1989.
Since that point, temperatures at the pole have increased 0.6 degrees per decade, three times the rate for the rest of the planet.
The researchers believe that the high temperatures are being fueled not only by an increase in greenhouse gases, but also by natural climatic changes in the tropics.
Read more: A 1988 warning on climate change was mostly correct
Record high temperatures are being fueled by rising greenhouse gases and natural climate changes in the tropics, scientists say.
The “double whammy” sheds light on why Antarctica is bearing the brunt of climate change.
Dr. Kyle Clem of Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand said: “These trends were unlikely as a result of natural climate change alone.
“The effects have probably worked together to make this one of the strongest warming trends on Earth.”
