Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, often called the “doomsday glacier,” is showing signs of a worrying future. After six years of research, scientists are sounding the alarm: this massive glacier is on a path toward collapse, and if it goes, it could raise sea levels dramatically across the globe.
Let’s break down what’s happening and why it matters to all of us.
A Glacier the Size of a Country
Thwaites Glacier is enormous—about the size of Florida or the United Kingdom. If it collapses, it would raise global sea levels by around 65 centimeters. But that’s just the beginning. Scientists say its fall could destabilize the entire West Antarctic ice sheet, pushing sea levels up by more than three meters. That kind of rise would put millions of people living in coastal cities like New York, Kolkata, and Shanghai at serious risk.
Why Is It Melting So Fast?
Here’s the scary part: the glacier is melting not just from the surface, but from underneath. It sits on rock far below sea level, and warmer ocean water is creeping in and melting the ice from the bottom. Even worse, the ground beneath it slopes downward inland, so as the glacier retreats, more and more ice is exposed to this warm water. That creates a dangerous loop that could make the melting even faster.
As one researcher put it, “The bed gets deeper and deeper—we know that’s unstable.”
Can We Predict When It Will Collapse?
Not exactly. Scientists used computer models to test different future scenarios based on how much carbon dioxide we keep putting into the atmosphere. And almost every scenario shows the same result: the glacier will retreat.
The big question is how fast this will happen. The collapse isn’t likely to be sudden or happen in the next few years, but it’s now seen as a matter of when, not if.
“It’s going to retreat—and eventually, it will speed up,” says one of the scientists from the British Antarctic Survey. But giving an exact timeline? That’s still uncertain.
What Can We Do About It?
Here’s the small piece of hope: the speed of Thwaites’ collapse is still in our hands. If we cut carbon emissions now, we can slow the melting. We might not be able to stop it entirely, but we can buy ourselves more time to prepare and protect coastal communities.
As one scientist put it, “We still have control over how quickly Thwaites loses mass.”
The bottom line? The doomsday glacier isn’t science fiction. It’s melting right now, and if we don’t act, the consequences will be felt worldwide. But the future isn’t written yet—there’s still a window to make a difference.
Source:
https://www.newscientist.com/definition/thwaites-glacier/
https://faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu/mathieu-morlighem
https://www.bas.ac.uk/profile/rdla/
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