A colossal Antarctic glacier, ominously nicknamed the 'Doomsday Glacier,' is teetering on the brink of a catastrophic collapse, scientists have urgently warned. New research has uncovered that intense, storm-like underwater vortexes are rapidly eroding the ice from below, pushing the glacier towards a tipping point.
The Underwater Storms Melting the Ice
According to a pivotal study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists have identified a dangerous new mechanism accelerating the demise of Thwaites Glacier. Powerful, swirling vortices forming in the layer of water beneath the ice are pulling in warm ocean currents.
Lead author Mattia Poinelli, a glaciologist at the University of California, Irvine, described the phenomenon to climate organisation Grist. "They look exactly like a storm," she stated. "They're strongly energetic, so there is a very vertical and turbulent motion that happens near the surface."
This turbulent activity melts the ice shelf from below, creating fractures in a destructive feedback loop. The melting process itself then increases the turbulence, establishing what researchers call a 'vicious cycle' of damage.
The Staggering Global Consequences
The potential collapse of Thwaites Glacier carries dire implications for the entire planet. The glacier, located in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is a behemoth:
- It is approximately 75 miles wide.
- It covers an area of around 74,000 square miles.
- This makes it roughly the size of mainland Britain or the US state of Florida.
Since the 1980s, Thwaites has already lost a staggering over 600 billion tonnes of ice. If the entire glacier were to disintegrate and melt into the ocean, it would cause global sea levels to rise by between one and two metres (three to six feet).
Such a rise would effectively wipe out numerous coastal cities that are home to tens of millions of people. Major metropolises at severe risk include:
- London
- New York
- Amsterdam
- Bangkok
- Mumbai
Furthermore, low-lying island nations such as the Maldives, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Polynesia, and Micronesia would be completely submerged and wiped off the map.
A Race Against Time
Satellite data indicates an accelerating rate of fractures within the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf since the start of the 21st century. Scientists have previously warned that the supporting ice shelf could collapse within the next decade as it continues to weaken.
This newly discovered process of underwater storms is not isolated. Mattia Poinelli cautioned that as global ocean temperatures continue to climb, this effect is "likely to be replicated across the Antarctic." She added, "In the future, where there is going to be more warm water, more melting, we're going to probably see more of these effects in different areas of Antarctica."
The situation has prompted some, like glaciologist John Moore of Lapland University, to propose radical interventions such as placing a physical barrier on the seafloor to block warm water. However, this idea was met with significant criticism from over 40 researchers who signed a letter arguing that efforts must remain squarely focused on reducing carbon emissions and slowing global warming as the only viable long-term solution.
