Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier on edge of collapse; sea level may rise by 10ft in 10 yrs

 Thwaites Glacier also known as "doomsday" glacier, in Antarctica, is on verge of slipping into ocean as ice shelf holding it back could crack, scientists warned. Florida-sized glacier could raise sea levels by at least a foot in next dece, according to scientists.

During a press conference, Erin Pettit, associate professor of earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences at Oregon State University, said, "I visualised it somewhat similar to a car window where you have a few cracks that are slowly propagating, and n suddenly you go over a bump in your car and whole thing just starts to shatter in every direction.  collapse of this ice shelf will result in a direct increase in sea-level rise pretty rapidly."

Warm water was discovered beneath Thwaites glacier in West Antarctica in January 2020, according to experts, which might speed up melting of 74,000-square-mile glacier. ice melting into Amundsen Sea from Thwaites alrey contributes for around 4% of global sea-level increase.

" satellite imagery that we've been following, that it's going to essentially bypass that pinning point and start fracturing and falling apart. It's a little bit unsettling," Pettit said.

Glacier cracking due to warm water beneath it

However, according to scientists,  eastern ice shelf keeping glacier in place has started rapidly accelerating cracks that might cause it to collapse within next three to five years, bringing Thwaites glacier to an end. ice shelf would not contribute to a rise in global sea levels by itself, but glacier would. Thwaites Glacier would be exposed to ocean water if it collapsed, but glacier is alrey cracking due to warm water beneath it.

When glacier is exposed, multinational team of scientists fears ice cliff collapse, which occurs when glacier chunks exposed to ocean water break off and fall into water. If glacier continues to collapse, it would endanger many coastal communities throughout world, which are alrey growing more unsafe to live in as sea levels rise.

'Glacier will not last long,' Expert predicts

glacier is widest in world, according to Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, and if it collapses, it will also collapse surrounding glaciers, Hill reported. glacier could survive on its own, according to Scambos, but getting a clearer image of how glacier will behave during next 100 years will be critical. However, all indications are that glacier will not last long, he concluded.

Within less than a dece, re will be a tremendous alteration in face of glacier, Sambos predicted. Its outflow pace has doubled in previous 30 years, and glacier holds enough water to raise sea levels by more than 2 feet. And if it drags neighbouring glaciers with it, it might result in much more sea-level rise, up to 10 feet.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Image: Unsplash