A team of scientists warned Monday that the Thwaites glacier in West Antarctica is “currently controlled by wires” and could undergo significant changes over small timescales.
A study that analyzed the seafloor with high-resolution images has helped researchers uncover the past of this glacier in the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica and try to understand its future behaviour.
He explained that the investigation, which was published by the “Nature Geoscience” magazine, today, Monday, indicates that the large glacier witnessed moments of retreat in the past, which were “faster” than it is now, which “increases concern for its future.” , University of South Florida, USA, one of the participants in the investigation.
Thwaites is undergoing a phase of rapid retreat, prompting widespread concern about how much or how fast ice could give way to the ocean, as its total loss and that of surrounding ice basins could raise sea level. From one to three meters.
Scientists are citing “reasons for concern” after mapping a critical area of the sea floor in front of the glacier, allowing them to see how quickly it has retreated and moved in the past.
“Our results indicate that there have been very rapid retreats in the Thwaites glacier over the past two centuries, and possibly even into the mid-20th century,” said lead author Alistair Graham of American University.
The images also provide “basic pictures” about the processes that occur at the critical junction between the glacier and the ocean today.
“Thwaites is really constrained these days, and we should expect to see big changes on small time scales in the future – even from year to year – once the glacier recedes just below its bottom.” Robert Larter of the British Antarctic Survey, also the study’s author.
Although many questions remain, it is certain for Alistair Graham that the scientists’ idea that the Antarctic ice sheets “were lazy and slow” is no longer true.
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