Photo: Jeremy Harbeck/OIB/NASA
A large glacier in Antarctica is at risk of melting at a faster rate than previously expected, researchers announced this week.
The researchers said that the glacier’s retreat is a dire sign for the future as temperatures continue to rise around the planet.
Robert Larter/British Antarctic Survey/ESA/AP
According toNBC News, the Thwaites is about the size of Florida and accounts for around 5 percent of Antarctica’s involvement in sea-level rise around the world.
However, were the glacier to collapse, it could cause oceans to rise as much as 2 feet around the world, the outlet reported. Previous studies have said that could happen as soon as 2031.
“About 100 years ago, it retreated faster than it is currently retreating. … You could say that’s good news, because it’s not so bad now compared to what it was in the past,” said study co-author Anna Wåhlin, a professor of physical oceanography at Sweden’s Gothenburg University, per NBC News. “But you can also say that it’s bad news, because it could happen again.”
The impact the glacier could have on the planet if it were to retreat is how it earned its “Doomsday” nickname, perYahoo News.
“Just a small kick to Thwaites could lead to a big response,” Graham said in the news release.
Researchers told theBBCin December that warming waters are weakening and thinning the glacier’s ice shelf. As this goes on, it could uncouple from its underwater ridge, which would destabilize it.
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“I visualize it somewhat similar to that car window where you have a few cracks that are slowly propagating,” Oregon State University’s Dr. Erin Pettit said of the glacier’s melt, per the outlet, “and then suddenly you go over a bump in your car and the whole thing just starts to shatter in every direction.”
source: people.com
