Thwaites Ice Shelf

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Thwaites Ice Shelf

Thwaites Ice Shelf (

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75°6′S 105°31′W / 75.100°S 105.517°W / -75.100; -105.517Coordinates: 75°6′S 105°31′W / 75.100°S 105.517°W / -75.100; -105.517), is an Antarctic ice shelf in the Amundsen Sea. It was named by ACAN[1] after Fredrik T. Thwaites, a glacial geologist and geomorphologist. The Thwaites Ice Shelf is one of the biggest ice shelves in West Antarctica, though it is highly unstable and disintegrating rapidly.[2] Since the 1980s, the Thwaites glacier, nicknamed the "Doomsday glacier",[3] has had a net loss of over 600 billion tons of ice, though pinning of the Thwaites Ice Shelf has served to slow the process.[4] The Thwaites Ice Shelf has acted like a dam for the eastern portion of glacier, bracing it and allowing for a slow melt rate, in contrast to the undefended western portion.[3][5]

In 2021 the ice shelf was predicted to disintegrate in a decade, and as soon as 2026.[6] This will accelerate the melting of Thwaites Glacier by about 25%, and increase its contribution to global sea level rise from 4% to 5%.[7] However, complete melting of Thwaites Glacier, which would increase global sea levels by 65 cm or 2 feet, is unlikely to occur for many centuries.[3][8]

Due to the instability, Thwaites Ice Shelf along with Thwaites Glacier have been proposed as sites for climate engineering interventions to stabilize and preserve its ice.[9]

See also[]

  • Ice shelves of Antarctica

References[]

  1. ^ "Thwaites Glacier Tongue". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  2. ^ Kim, Jin-Woo; Kim, Duk-jin; Kim, Seung Hee; Ha, Ho Kyung; Lee, Sang Hoon (2015). "Disintegration and acceleration of Thwaites Ice Shelf on the Amundsen Sea revealed from remote sensing measurements". GIScience & Remote Sensing. 52 (4): 498–509. doi:10.1080/15481603.2015.1041766.
  3. ^ a b c Cohen, Li (2021-12-14). "'Doomsday' glacier's last-remaining ice shelf could collapse within 5 years, and scientists warn it could rapidly raise sea levels". CBS News.
  4. ^ Tinto, K; Bell, R (2011). "Progressive unpinning of Thwaites Glacier from newly identified offshore ridge: Constraints from aerogravity". Geophysical Research Letters. doi:10.1029/2011GL049026.
  5. ^ "Thwaites: Antarctic glacier heading for dramatic change". BBC News. 2021-12-13. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
  6. ^ Voosen, Paul (2021-12-13). "Ice shelf holding back keystone Antarctic glacier within years of failure". Science.
  7. ^ Pettit, Erin C.; Wild, Christian; Alley, Karen; Muto, Atsuhiro; Truffer, Martin; Bevan, Suzanne Louise; Bassis, Jeremy N.; Crawford, Anna; Scambos, Ted A.; Benn, Doug (2021-12-15). Collapse of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf by intersecting fractures. AGU Fall Meeting. New Orleans: American Geophysical Union. C34A-07.
  8. ^ "Thwaites: Antarctic glacier heading for dramatic change". BBC News. 2021-12-13. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  9. ^ "The radical intervention that might save the "doomsday" glacier". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2022-01-14.

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document: "Thwaites Ice Shelf". (content from the Geographic Names Information System)

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