Doomsday glacier approaching catastrophic collapse

illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on Wired or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: New research shows Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier – the so-called “Doomsday Glacier” – is moving closer to irreversible collapse, as expanding cracks weaken the ice shelf that helps hold it back. Its destabilisation could accelerate sea-level rise globally and influence the stability of the entire West Antarctic ice sheet

🔭 The context: Two decades of satellite and GPS data reveal increasing structural failure accelerated by climate change
• The total length of cracks in Thwaites’ eastern ice shelf more than doubled between 2002 and 2021
• Since 2017, cracks have fully severed the ice shelf from its anchoring point on the seabed
• This loss of support has accelerated the upstream flow of ice toward the ocean

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Thwaites is a linchpin for global sea-level rise
• The glacier alone contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by around 65 cm
• Scientists identified a feedback loop – faster ice flow creates more cracks, which in turn speed up the flow
• Because Thwaites rests on a reverse-sloping seabed, retreat is likely to be self-sustaining once underway

⏭️ What’s next: Scientists warn the process is unlikely to slow
• Structural weakening is continuing to move inland at tens of kilometres per year
• Models suggest retreat of up to 1 km per year over coming decades
• The findings strengthen concerns that ice-shelf collapse may arrive sooner than previously expected

📈 One stat: The total length of cracks in Thwaites’ ice shelf grew from ~165 km to ~336 km in less than 20 years.

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