REUTERS/Alister Doyle/File Photo Alister Doyle/Reuters It was because of that research that scientists began calling the region around the Thwaites the “weak underbelly of the West Antarctic ice sheet.”Ī 20 metre-high ice cliff forming the edge of the Wilkins Ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula is seen from a plane January 18, 2009. Nearly a decade later, they found that – because the glacier is grounded to a seabed, rather than to dry land – warm ocean currents could melt the glacier from underneath, causing it to destabilize from below. As early as 1973, researchers questioned whether it was at high risk of collapse. The Thwaites Glacier itself has concerned scientists for decades.
But it’s just a faction of the West Antarctic ice sheet, which holds enough ice to raise sea level by up to 16 feet, according to NASA.Īs the climate crisis has accelerated, this region has been closely monitored because of its rapid melting and its capacity for widespread coastal destruction. The Thwaites Glacier, located in West Antarctica, is one of the widest on Earth and is larger than the state of Florida. Palmer working near the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf in in 2019. The US Antarctic Program research vessel Nathaniel B.
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