News From The Antarctic Seabed
 

'Seafloor images shed new light on Thwaites Glacier retreat' ES

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/to...abb6c405445090

"Scientists have mapped a critical area of seafloor in front of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica in high-resolution for the first time, giving them a window into how fast it has retreated and moved in the past.

The glacier has been an important consideration for scientists trying to make predictions about global sea level rise.

This massive ice stream is already in a phase of fast retreat leading to widespread concern about exactly how much, or how fast, it may give up its ice to the ocean.

Experts suggest a total loss of Thwaites and surrounding icy basins could raise sea levels from three to 10 feet.

Thwaites is really holding on today by its fingernails, and we should expect to see big changes over small timescales in the future..." Evening Standard

https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/...=612&h=459&m=6


Three to ten feet higher sea level would be catastrophic.

Interesting paragraph from the linked article:

Alarmingly, analysis of the new images indicates that the rate of Thwaites’ retreat that scientists have documented more recently is small compared to the fastest rates of change in its past.

"Alarmingly, analysis of the new images indicates that the rate of Thwaites’ retreat that scientists have documented more recently is small compared to the fastest rates of change in its past."

So what's the deal?

"at some point in the last 200 years, over less than six months, the front of the glacier lost contact with a seabed ridge and retreated at a rate of more than 2.1 kilometres per year (1.3 miles per year) – twice the rate documented using satellites between 2011 and 2019.

That explains why the glacier retreated faster for a period of time in the recent past.