Thwaites glacier has its own complexities, including proximity to dozens of underwater volcanoes. Wikipedia says it’s ‘nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier’ and ‘The Thwaites Ice Shelf, a floating ice shelf which braces and restrains the eastern portion of Thwaites Glacier, is likely to collapse within a decade from 2021’. Statements like ‘computer models show’, ‘how soon a transition to more rapid ice retreat might occur’ and ‘collapse of the glacier’ (the size of Florida) arouse a certain amount of scepticism. More than a whiff of climate alarm enthusiasm here.
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Nearly 60 scientists and support staff are on their way to Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, says the British Antarctic Survey.
It’s part of an ambitious international effort to understand the glacier and surrounding ocean system to determine its future contributions to global sea-level rise.
This season represents the fourth of five planned field seasons.
The International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) ambition started in 2018 and, after two successful field seasons, was then slowed by the effects of the pandemic.
This led to a cancellation of major land-based field work in 2020-2021, although some instrument data were recovered, and a greatly reduced land-based field season last year. Despite these limitations, progress on understanding the glacier and surrounding system has continued apace.
About Thwaites Glacier
Thwaites Glacier, covering 192,000 square kilometers (74,000 square miles)—an area the size of Florida or Great Britain—is particularly susceptible to climate and ocean changes. Over the past 30 years, the amount of ice flowing out of the region has nearly doubled.
Computer models show that, over the next several decades, the glacier may lose ice even more rapidly. Already, ice draining from Thwaites into the Amundsen Sea accounts for about four percent of global sea-level rise. A collapse of the glacier would lead to a significant increase in sea levels of around 65cm (25 inches) over the coming centuries.
Dr Robert Larter, a senior marine geophysicist at British Antarctic Survey, who is part of the ITGC Science Coordination Office, says:
“This work is important. Data collected from Thwaites Glacier will underpin future sea-level rise predictions, providing our governments with the right information for policy and business actions that will help protect coastal cities, ecosystems and vulnerable communities.”
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ITGC is a five-year, $50 million joint US and UK mission to learn more about Thwaites Glacier, its past, and what the future may hold. Significant contributions to the research are also coming from Sweden, Germany, and South Korea.
The ultimate goal of the project is to predict how much Thwaites will contribute to global sea-level rise, and how soon a transition to more rapid ice retreat might occur.
Full article here.
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
December 14, 2022 at 04:12AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 