New data from an international expedition and underwater robot Icefin beneath the remote Thwaites Glacier, nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier, in Antarctica. It is one of the most critical glaciers in West Antarctica, and its potential collapse could trigger a significant rise in sea level, which could
Apparently, the rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica is driven by different processes under its floating ice shelf than researchers previously understood. Novel observations from where the ice enters the ocean show that while melting beneath much of the ice shelf is weaker than expected, melting in cracks and crevasses is much faster.
A layer of fresher water between the bottom of the ice shelf and the underlying ocean, slows the rate of melting along flat parts of the ice shelf. But the authors were surprised to see the melting had formed stair-case-like topography across the bottom of the ice shelf. In these areas, as well as in cracks in the ice, rapid melting is occurring.
Icefin at Kamb Ice Stream after having been pulled from the water, showing icicles that have grown on the vehicle. Credit: Icefin/NASA/PSTAR RISE UP/Schmidt/Lawrence Dr. Britney Schmidt, of Cornell University in the US, and a team of scientists and engineers deployed a robot calledthrough the 600m deep borehole. The vehicle is designed to access such grounding zones that were previously almost impossible to survey. The observationsmade of the seafloor and ice around the grounding zone provide more detail on the picture of how melting varies beneath the ice shelf.
Picture of Icefin operating under the sea ice near McMurdo Station. Credit: Icefin/NASA/PSTAR RISE UP/Schmidt/Lawrence
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