Thwaites Glacier, an enormous glacier the size of Florida, may be on the brink of melting so quickly it could cause catastrophic global sea level rises, scientists have warned. Covering 70,000 square miles, it is likely to accelerate its flow into the ocean, a new study into Antarctic ice sheet stability has suggested. Once it passes a tipping point, it will become an unstoppable process which could raise sea levels at a much higher rate than previously estimated. Once a tipping point is reached, even if global temperatures were reduced, the glacier’s flow into the sea would already be unstoppable. The process becomes self-perpetuating. In the worst-case scenario the ice from the Thwaites Glacier alone could raise global sea levels by as much as half a metre (20 inches) in as little as 150 years.
While the climate crisis has seen temperatures soar and rapidly reduce ice levels in the Arctic, down in the Antarctic, far larger ice sheets containing much more water are now believed to be at significant risk of collapse, despite previously being considered stable. Thwaites Glacier is one of five recently identified unstable Antarctic glaciers which have doubled their rate of ice loss in just six years.
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