Located in West Antarctica, the Thwaites Glacier, an ice giant larger than Florida, is melting twice as fast as expected. However, the attachment of this so-called “end of the world” glacier to the rest of the continent is due to few things and could in the future become a threat for coastal populations.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
A study published earlier this week in the journal Nature Geoscience indicates that the nearly 120 kilometer glacier is retreating at a rate of 2.1 km per year, twice as fast as previous predictions made between 2011 and 2019. Measurements carried out using robotic vehicles equipped with sensors and whose data are transmitted by satellite to the researchers have made it possible to reach this conclusion.
The part of the glacier which is returned to the sea and which floats (what we call the platform) seriously threatens to detach itself in the next years or decades. However, such a scenario risks weakening and making the rest of the glacier more unstable.
“Thwaites is holding on by the tips of its nails and we should expect big changes in a short period of time when the glacier has retreated beyond a shallow ridge in its bed,” said scientist Robert Larter. Briton and co-author of the study, in an interview with the washington post.
Closer to home, Michel Lamothe, professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal, recalls that the Thwaites Glacier has been under close surveillance for quite some time by geologists and glaciologists. And that it is not a unique case.
A whole sector of the peninsula known as the West Antarctic ice cap is concerned. There is, in this large bay, a family of glaciers, such as the Thwaites and the Pines, which are extremely unstable. We have real concerns about these formations.
Michel Lamothe, Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal
Sea level rise
Fears? Yes, in the sense that a melting, dislocation, or even disappearance of these glaciers, in whole or in part, could result in a significant rise in sea level. the sea level would rise by 65 centimeters”, we read on the site thwaitesglacier.com, managed by an international scientific group.
Other sources such as the melting of Greenland and the thermal expansion of water (the hotter it is, the more space it takes up) are also responsible for the rise in sea level. A recent study by glaciologists estimates that the current global warming will lead to a loss of 3.3% of the Greenland ice cap and a rise of 27.4 cm in sea level.
In the longer term, many scientists suggest a rise of 1 to 3 meters in sea level. This would affect 40% of the world’s population, who live less than 100 km from the coast.
We should also remember that in a study published last week, the review Science included the melting of the ice sheet and that of West Antarctica in the five nearest tipping points in time that will result in severe climatic disturbances.
By the way, what is causing the Thwaites Glacier and its neighbors in Antarctica to recede in this way? The water that surrounds them.
“The most important climatic impact for the Antarctic ice cap is the warming of the sea water around the platforms”, notes Michel Lamothe.
Since the year 2000, the Thwaites has lost 1000 billion tons of ice and it alone has contributed to 4% of the rise in sea levels on the planet.
With The Washington Post and thwaitesglacier.com