Hot water can completely collapse the glacier.
Doomed Doomsday Glacier
Researchers studied the waters beneath the Thwaites Glacier (also known as the “Doomsday Glacier”) and discovered that the ice shelf was melting faster than previously thought.
Scientists have used an unpaved submersible pump known as ‘Ran’ to explore the bottom of the glacier in West Antarctica. according to a press release from the University of Gothenburg. There they discovered that the hot water flowing beneath them was eroding faster than they expected at the glacier, causing cracks and crevices in the ice.
This poses a problem as a glacier: when the ice shelf collapses, we can all see a tremendous increase in world sea level (it becomes the Judgment Day Glacier).
The researchers published a study of their findings in Scientific progress.
Hot waters run deep
According to Thwaites, the Glacier is approximately 119,300 square kilometers in size Gizmodo. Despite its enormous size, the ice melts faster than any other glacier in Antarctica.
The Ran submersible pump has discovered that the water below can rise to 33.89 degrees Fahrenheit – which is hot enough to weaken the ice.
“The concern is that this water comes in direct contact with the bottom of the ice shelf at the point where the ice tongue and the shallow seabed meet,” said Alastair Graham, an associate professor of geological oceanography at the University of South Florida. author of the study, on Gizmodo.
He continued, ‘This is the last fortress for Thwaites and if it opens at the front of the seabed, there is nothing else that can hold the ice shelf. That hot water probably also mixes in and around the baseline, deep in the cavity, and that means the glacier is also attacked at its feet where it rests on solid rock. ”
So this is definitely a bittersweet moment for the researchers. At the front, they were able to study a previously unexplored part of the glacier – but they also learned that the Doomsday Glacier might live up to its name sooner than they thought.
READ MORE: First exploration of ocean currents under Doomsday Glacier problems [SciTechDaily]
More about ice melt: A melting Antarctic could raise sea levels more than expected
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