The Thwaites Glacier, an enormous shelf of ice in the Antarctic, has been given the ominous nickname of the \u201cDoomsday Glacier\u201d \u2014 because if it were to change collapse, it could have profound implications for the future of sea level rise and the fate of coastal communities.<\/p>\n
Scientists have watched in horror<\/a> as its retreat has accelerated significantly. Now, as detailed in a study<\/a> published by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) and spotted by Wired<\/a>, large cracks forming in the ice shelf are continuing to weaken its structural integrity. Doomsday has never been closer.<\/p>\n If it were to collapse under its own weight<\/a>, scientists suggest it could ultimately trigger up to 11 feet of global sea level rise, meaning certain devastation for tens of millions of people.<\/p>\n Now, a team of researchers from the University of Manitoba have analyzed satellite data from 2002 to 2022, and observed how cracks in the Thwaites Glacier continued to grow around a shear zone.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past two decades, the shelf has experienced progressive fracturing around a prominent shear zone upstream of its pinning point, gradually compromising its structural integrity,\u201d the paper reads.<\/p>\n Over the two decades, satellite images showed the \u201ctotal area length of fractures\u201d growing from around 100 miles to over 200 miles, but the average length actually decreased, suggesting major new stresses acting on the glacier.<\/p>\n A similarly alarming situation is playing out below the water line as well. Another recent study<\/a> observed how warming ocean waters are melting ice shelves like the Thwaites Glacier, changes that can be tracked not just over years, but mere hours and days as well as swirling eddies of water that can measure up to six miles across spin and burrow underneath these glaciers.<\/p>\n The international team of researchers also identified a worrying feedback loop: new cold water from the ice shelf mixes with warmer saltier ocean waters, causing ocean turbulence, which in turn, melts even more ice.<\/p>\n \u201cThis positive feedback loop could gain intensity in a warming climate,\u201d coauthor and UC San Diego assistant professor Lia Siegelman told CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scientists are still racing to fully understand the devastating effects of global warming on the Doomsday Glacier. One thing\u2019s for sure: the prognosis isn\u2019t great. According to the ITGC\u2019s 2025 report<\/a>, the glacier\u2019s retreat has \u201caccelerated considerably over the past 40 years.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough a full collapse is unlikely to occur in the next few decades, our findings indicate it is set to retreat further, and faster, through the 21st and 22nd centuries,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n \u201cImmediate and sustained climate change mitigation (decarbonisation) offers the best hope of delaying this ice loss and avoiding initiation of similar unstable retreat in marine-based sectors of East Antarctica,\u201d the group wrote.<\/p>\n